The Hardest Path
by Eureka2
Summary: This is the story of the genius from the Hidden village of the Rock, Deidara. It starts when he's 12, and still a loyal shinobi of the Rock. What causes Deidara to leave his village, and join the Akatsuki?
1. Prologue

A/N: Hey there guys. For starters, thank you in advance for reading this : )  


This is kinda my first fanfic, in a way, since I have never actually finished one before. This one, however, I WILL keep on updating. Cross my heart : P Obviously no pairings, since this fic centers around Deidara.  


Next chapter will be quite a bit longer. 

_This is used for the thoughts of characters, for the most part:P_

(Yes, actually, I DO own Naruto? You gotta problem with that, huh? Oh damn, who am I kidding...

------------ ..---:...  


A brisk wind blew from the south, across the barren and rocky landscape, through the hidden village of rock. In the outskirts of the village, one small boy put up a hand to shield his eyes from the dust that was being whipped up from the ground. The little boy was about ten, and was sitting in a small hole, that he seemed to have made himself. Shielding his eyes with one hand, he seamlessly continued working with his free hand, picking up the dry earth, and studying it closely. His eyes darted intently across every small pebble in the fistful of earth he had, before he gave out a disappointed sigh, and let it run through his fingers, only to be almost instantly whipped away by the wind.

Nothing here either! This kind of earth was useless, for most anything. Not sticky enough to be shaped, not fine enough to be compacted. Fit only for farming, or something like that.

The boy slowly got to his feet, and walked slowly away from his excavation site. He would have to look somewhere else. Hanging his head slightly, he began to walk slowly towards the village of the rock. His mother would probably be worried, or something. She seemed to hate how he was always alone. You'll have lots of time to do your research later, your only a kid for so long, she would always say. Deidara hated when she said that. He never answered, afraid of saying something he might regret later.

But instead, he didn't go home. Making up his mind, he made a left turn, just before getting to the village gates, and began to walk towards a small hill, new resolve in his stride. His mother was right, really. He was only ten for so long. In fact, he was only alive for so long, so he would have to get to work. Screw dinner!

By the time he had reached the side of the hill, he was absolutely sure that he had come to the right place. "This has to be it," he whispered quietly, staring intently at the hillside, as if excavating it with his eyes, checking the earth.

The sun was beginning to set, and the hill was faced straight into the setting sun, giving him the impression that the whole hillside was glowing golden red. Small specks of dust shimmered in the setting sun. A few patches of green was visible among the bright red patches of sand, rock, and dark clay. The whole hill was casting an infinitely long shadow behind it, and the whole side seemed to radiate.

Walking slowly up the hillside, he stopped, when he got to a patch of what looked like sand. He picked it up, and let it run smoothly through his fingers, looking at it thoughtfully. Suddenly, his face lit up. He eagerly picked up a handful of sand, and put it into his mouth. He then put his hands into a seal, and tried to force chakra up to his mouth. After a couple of seconds, he began to chough uncontrollably, and spit as much of the sand out as he could. It tasted horrible. As he was struggling to clear his mouth of sand, he noticed something. For starters, the sand was not even wet, and secondly, it was still being held together in a perfect ball, by some invisible glue. He picked it up, eyeing it curiously. Suddenly, it gave off a small "Pop," and flew about five inches in every direction. Deidara stared at where the ball had been in his hand, entranced. For almost a full minute he sat there, his hand still stretched out in front of him, with whatever was left of the sand. Suddenly, he whipped a ragged notebook out of his pocket, and furiously scribbled down some quick notes, eyes suddenly alight.

1) Earth of sorts can be used as a container for chakra. Sand could maybe work as a chakra battery, although it would seem that sand is not the optimal medium for the task.  
2) If I can find a way to regain the chakra put into these "battery's," they could be used to regenerate chakra when your empty  
3) Definitely worth investigating further. Putting all other research, excluding "Chakra sculpturing" on hold, as this project could be combined with this new project.

Seeming satisfied with his new additions, he pushed the book back into his coat pocket, and got up. Squinting a bit into the sun, witch was halfway gone already, he walked over to a new patch of bare earth, and rock. With a great deal of difficulty, he managed to remove a giant rock that was in the middle of the patch. His breath caught in his throat when he saw a beautiful vein of dark red clay underneath where the rock had been. He carefully dug up a bit with his hands, and closed his hand around a small piece. He closed his eyes, slowly, and bit his bottom lip a bit, while concentrating chakra into his hand, yet trying to control the chakra as much as possible. He unclenched his fist, and gazed at the result.

Well, at least the piece of clay looked more like a pyramid, as he had meant, then most other shapes. Delighted at the result, he grabbed out his notebook again, and scribbled down: It would seem possible to sculpt soft materials using precise chakra moulds. Of course, it is also assumable that it would work with say, steel, given the right amount of chakra.

Next, he tried putting the piece of clay in his mouth. Forming a single seal with his hands, he concentrated all of his chakra into his mouth, holding it for full five minutes, until his head began to spin. Breathing heavily, he spat the newly infused piece of clay out into his hand. This time, it did not suddenly implode in his hand, but just lay there, doing nothing. After a while, he said the only word that came to mind.

"_Release_!" he said forcefully. And suddenly, the piece of harmless earth he had in his hand, exploded. He barely had time to scream with fright, before he was screaming with pain from his scorched hand. Before he could even blink, a fairly large pebble was searing its way through the air, right at his eye. He had absolutely no chance to block it!   
And as suddenly as it had started, it was over. Deidara was alone, on the side of a now dark hill, sobbing helplessly on the ground, hands clamped over his left eye. To his absolute terror, he felt warm blood seeping through both sets of fingers. Clenching both his eyes shut, he screamed as loud as he could. Not that anyone heard him, of course.

And thank you very much : P 

Ill update soon! Eureka   



	2. The Unintentional Genius

A/N: So, here you have it, after all this time waiting. For starters, I would like to thank anyone who reads this fic, and if you do read this, please leave a review, so I can see what you think, and become a better writer. Without further ado, I give you the first, but certainly not last proper chapter of this fic.

_This type of writing is used for thoughts! _

Just to clear up the timeline here, I put Deidara in as being a couple of years younger then Kakashi, and when Kakashi was 13, (Or whatever he is in Kakashi Gaiden) there was a war going on between the Leaf village, and the Rock. I put this setting to the time just after the war is finished, three years before the Kyuubi attacks Konoha. That would make Deidara twenty-four in part one, and twenty-six in part two, which sounds about right to me! 

-( Yes, just yesterday I bought the copyright for Naruto, just so I would not put in this stupid disclaimer. What's that? The canceled the deal? Oh crap... Ok ok, fine. This stuff is mostly the idea of a cool dude name Masashi Kishimoto. I DO however own most of the characters displayed in this fic! )-

Chapter one

The world was completely black. There was no direction, or flow one way or the other, and the only thing that seemed to exist, were himself, and his thoughts, all alone in the darkness. Confused, he tried to lift one of his arms. He didn't have arms. Confused, he tried to feel something, but his thoughts felt like they were made of lead, and were being pushed down a small pipe. He tried desperately to communicate something, _anything_.

A small moan escaped his dried and cracked lips. The sound itself made him feel more alert, although he still had no idea what was going on. Where am I? He tried to ask, but he couldn't. He just lay there, making some weird moaning noises, and feeling utterly helpless. Suddenly, he remembered something, although it seemed to take forever. In his slow, confused mind, he drew out his notebook, and made a mental note: _Chakra infused clay: Obviously holds great potential, Further experimenting required._

He then gave in to the darkness that instantly took hold of his mind.

When Deidara finally awoke, he felt much more awake then last time. He even had a vague memory of what had happened. After a few minutes, he realized that he must be in the hospital, although he had absolutely no memory of being found. A chill ran down his spine. The last thing he remembered… The clay. The explosion. Blood…

Suddenly horrified, he tried to wrench his eyes open, but only succeeded in slightly opening one. The other one refused to open for some reason. A various assortment of lights and shadow met his eye. By the side of the bed he was in, he could make out a dark figure, who was sitting immobile in a chair. Must be my mom, he thought. Because my dad would sure as hell never come. Slowly lifting his arms slightly, he managed, with great effort, to push himself into a sitting position. His other eye still refused to open, but his mind was getting clearer by the second now. "Mom?" he whispered, as loud as he could.

His mother, who always had been a light sleeper, jerked from her sleep with a small start at the noise, but smiled when she saw that he was awake. "Your awake, thank goodness," she said, drawing him carefully into a hug. Deidara let his eye close, and lost himself in the warmth of her embrace. For the first time in a while, he felt truly safe.

"What happened to me?" he asked weakly, after she had drawn away. His mother bit her lip a bit, looking concerned at him. "Well," she started. "After you didn't come to dinner, I called together a search party. They looked around the village, and eventually, they found you near a small hill. The first message I got, was that my soon had been attacked." She laughed bitterly, and nervously, glancing at Deidara, whose eye was wide. He bit his lip, and lowered his head.

"I wasn't attacked, mom," he said quietly. A look of surprise spread across his mother's face. "You weren't?" she asked. He nodded sadly. "Well what happened then?" she asked. Deidara thought for a minute how to put it. But before he could say a word, the door was opened, and a ninja stepped in.

Deidara's breath caught in his throat. He recognized the black and yellow uniform the ninja was wearing, from a description he had heard once, by accident.

It was one of the YTR. A special squad of elite ninja dedicated to protecting the Kage, among other things. Officially, the YTR did not exist, and that was usually the case. But now, the Rock village was at war, and the YTR unit had been revived. Rumors about their deeds were usually flying around, although 99 of them were likely false. The remaining 1 however, could only be legitimate. Deidara just sat their, staring.

"The Kage has requested your presence. I am instructed to take you to him the moment you wake up," he said, in an unnaturally deep voice. Deidara was stunned, his eye wide. "Wha… Now?" he managed to stutter.

"Yes!"

He glanced over at his mother, who was looking fearful, but she ushered him to go. The man was waiting impatiently by the door. Slowly, but steadily, Deidara managed to force himself off the bed. His feet landed on the ground, and he swayed for a second or two, before finally getting his balance. The man motioned for him to follow. Deidara did, walking slowly. As he left the room, he glanced back at his mother, not wanting to leave her. Then the door closed, and he was all alone again. He followed the man quietly, still in shock. He barely noticed where they were going, and did not even care when the man lead him straight through what appeared to be a wall. He glanced down at his hand, and realized that he was shaking, head to foot.

As they were walking down the hallway, Deidara glanced up to his right. His eye fell on a mirror, fastened onto the wall. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. His mouth opened slightly in horror, as he began to tremble violently.

He had not been able to open his left eye, but now it was painfully obvious why. His eyelids on that eye were stretched out, over an eye socket that was obviously empty, and they had been sewn shut. Blue thread looped up and down through the skin, and a faint outline of blood drops streaming from the socket were visible.

It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming out loud. His remaining eye stung a bit, as tears began in it.

The man noticed Deidara had stopped moving, and jerked his head around, while waving impatiently for him to get a move on. He stopped after looking at the horrified look on his face, and the stream of tears that had sprung from his remaining eye. The guard chuckled softly.

"Just noticed, did you?" he said, sounding darkly amused. Deidara just kept on staring, biting his lip. The guard smiled grimly, and then he walked over to Deidara.

"Hey, don't worry about it, kid," he said, suddenly sounding kind. He kneeled down to where Deidara was, and, to his surprise, brushed away a bit of his long black hair, to reveal a black patch, covering the whole left eye of the guard.

"It's really not that bad," he said, pointing up at the patch, before smiling a bit. Deidara was surprised by this sudden show of kindness. The YTR laughed slightly at the look on Deidara's face.

"Come on, kid. Let's get going," he said quietly, getting up impatiently, and motioning along the corridor. He began to walk. Deidara tore his eye away from the mirror, and turned his head. He nodded shortly, and started off after the man down the corridor. As he walked, he brushed his long hair out of his face, trying to clear his head. "Just calm down," he whispered to himself.

About then, he heard the guard say his name, and he snapped his head around, realizing that he had walked right past where the guard had stopped. He turned around, feeling slightly lost for some reason.

"Why would the Kage want to speak to me?" he asked the guard carefully. "I don't know," the guard said, before literally pushing Deidara into the room, taking him by surprise. Suddenly, he was in the office of the Tsuchikage. Deidara took a quick glance at the room.

It was a fairly small room, much smaller then Deidara had imagined it. The only things in the room were a bookshelf the right, and portraits of the past five Tsuchikage's on the left. Square centre in the room, there was a massive desk, made out of what was seemingly polished marble. "_Minimalist décor," _Deidara thought to himself quickly. Behind the desk, the Yondaime Tsuchikage was sitting. Deidara looked at him nervously. Everything he knew about the man in front of him flashed quickly through his brain.

_When the Great War broke out, he had just retired himself from the Kage position. But just weeks after he retired, his successor was killed in battle, by the infamous "Yellow flash of Konoha" Without much time to pick a proper successor, the best of the Jounins was chosen. But he shared exactly the same fate as the Godaime Tsuchikage.Desperate for a leader; Yondaime was forced to come out of retirement, to head his country in the Great War. Incidentally, he was the only one to have ever survived a direct fight with the "Yellow flash."_

All of these facts flashed through Deidara's head in a matter of seconds. For a second, there was silence between the two of them. Then, the Kage motioned noiselessly for Deidara to sit down in the chair in front of him. Deidara did this, as fast as he could.

The Tsuchikage leaned foreword a bit, and rested his elbows on his desk. His long, flowing silver hair seemed to catch the light in a way a mirror could not, spreading the light along the length of his hair. It seemed to be dancing in a weak breeze, even though the only window in the room was shut tight. _He can't be more then forty,_ Deidara thought.

For a second he just stared at Deidara, who was fidgeting nervously.

"Now, I'm sure that you are wondering why you are here," he began slowly. Deidara nodded quickly. The Kage smiled weakly, seemingly taking his time in everything he did. He fixed Deidara with a intent stare.

"How did you lose your eye, Deidara?" he said finally. Deidara was not surprised by the question; he had expected it. He was surprised that the man knew his name, however. He already had his whole explanation ready in his head, so launched right into his explanation. When he was finished talking, he reluctantly gave the Kage his prized notebook, with all of his research data. The Tsuchikage examined it with great interest.

Then, without saying a word, he got up, and went over to his bookshelf. He rummaged in one of the drawers for a while, before pulling out a lump of clay. Deidara's breath caught in his throat, and his eyes widened. That clay was unmistakable from the very vein he himself had discovered. The Kage brought the clay back to his desk, before sitting down again.

"I was watching you, you know," he said quietly. Deidara looked at him, slightly shocked. "W-what do you mean?" he managed to say.

"All that time while you were researching. All that time you sat alone, researching new techniques and ways to manipulate chakra, while the other kid's were fighting around. You know, those other kid's have a lot of talent. They'll all be good shinobi. You, on the other hand, have no talent at all." The Tsuchikage laughed shortly, while Deidara's eye widened a bit. _No.. Talent at all…?_ He looked down at the table, biting his lip slightly.

"Deidara?" he said. Deidara looked up, a slightly desperate look on his face. _Where the hell is this going?_

The Tsuchikage pushed the piece of clay across the desk to Deidara. He recoiled, as if he was afraid that it was about to explode. The Kage laughed slightly.

"I assure you, it's perfectly safe," he laughed. "What I want you to do is exactly what you did to the clay that blew your eye out. _He must have been watching that to,_ Deidara realized.

Without saying a word, he nervously picked up the clay, and grasped it firmly in between his hands. Concentrating as hard as he could, he focused whatever he had of power into the lump of clay. For two full minutes, he just sat there, in complete silence, forcing his power out of him. After two minutes, he could not take it any more. He fell foreword onto the desk, dizzy, and exhausted. With his hand, he desperately pushed the lump of clay away from him, afraid it would explode. The Tsuchikage picked it up, and held it up to his bright green eyes.

As he examined it, it was as if his green eyes lit up. Deidara watched him, fascinated. The Kage was thorough with his work, examining the lump from every angle, holding it up to the light every so often. A few times, he poked it, or tried to pick off a piece. After about a minute, he put the lump of clay back down on the middle of the table, and sat down again, facing Deidara, but not looking at him, averting his gaze elsewhere, seemingly lost in thought. Deidara waited nervously, constantly throwing glances to the chakra-infused clay on the middle of the desk, increasingly wary of it.

After a long and complete silence, the Tsuchikage finally fixed his gaze back at Deidara. With his eyes, he seemed almost to be sizing the little boy up, considering something.

"Deidara," he began calmly. Deidara looked up, saying nothing, but still looking nervous. Was he in trouble somehow?

"Do you remember if you did, or said anything to make the clay explode? Anything at all."

He made it sound like a very serious question. Deidara found it a strange question.

_What is he talking about? This should be simple really. According to my conclusion, the clay was overloaded with chakra, and spontaneously repelled the clay, creating an explosion as a result from the friction within the clay. _All of this passed through his mind in the matter of seconds, while he was trying to remember. Then, it occurred to him that he had done something.

"I did say something, yeah;" he said nervously. "Just to try, I said _Release._" He nervously looked the Tsuchikage in the eye, wondering if this was a problem somehow. The Tsuchikage, however, seemed to be amused, almost. A smile played around his lips, while he looked down at the ten-year old, with something that looked like laughter, and pride. In any case, he smiled widely.

"Deidara, have you ever heard the story about the first Tsuchikage, and how he became just that?" Deidara nodded that, no, he had never heard this story. He was wondering were all of this was leading. The Tsuchikage smiled smartly.

"You may know that this village was founded mere hundred and twenty years ago, by the country itself. Before this time, ninja had trained mostly for themselves, secluded in mountains, or other places, training alone. But that changed. The country of fire was the first to realize the awesome potential Shinobi held, from a military standpoint. They sent out envoys to every single ninja in the land, asking them to unite, to help serve their country. They were offered a village of there own, and granted almost full sovereignty. Most of the ninja accepted, and the first of the hidden villages was born. The original point of this village was to establish the country of fire as the worlds only super-power. They meant to stop all war, and be almost a leader of all the other countries. The village was supposed to remain a secret." The Tsuchikage smiled grimly, looking slightly malevolent.

"But that's not how it went! One day , a ninja from the hidden village of the leaf deflected, and went missing. They presumed him dead, but in reality, he had gone to a different country. The one of the wind."

By now, Deidara was hanging on to his every word, transfixed. The Kage sighed a bit, before continuing.

"After that, the idea of rounding up ninja's into a village spread like wildfire, and before long, every country that could afford it had their own secret village up and running. Ninja's being the main weapons of war; all countries that had a village were competing for dominance. Even so, it was never a full out war. More like a fine balance, witch could be tipped at any time. It was into the middle of this turmoil that the hidden village of the rock came to be. Now, they were faced with the problem of finding their first leader. It's here that our story actually begins," the Tsuchikage laughed, before continuing. Outside, the afternoon sun had begun to creep in the window, making the room glow strangely read, almost like a gigantic furnace.

"The first Tsuchikage was not particularly talented, yet he managed to beat every single ninja who challenged him for the position." The Tsuchikage fixed his eyes on Deidara.

"Do you know what a genius is?"

The question took Deidara by surprise, and he sat there, blinking, not knowing what to say. "Well it's- I guess… Someone who is extremely talented?" he suggested. The Tsuchikage smiled slyly.

"You see, that's where you are wrong, Deidara." He fixed him with another stare, except this time, he was smiling.

"A true genius is someone who does things that just can not be done with talent."

For a second Deidara stared at him, trying to decipher what he had just said. Well, of course the fact itself made perfect sense, when he thought about it. That's exactly what a genius really is. But what was the point? What is the context? Deidara had the sinking feeling that something fairly obvious was passing straight over his head. _But what was it? _

Deidara looked back up at him. "Are you going to finish the story?" he asked.

The Tsuchikage smiled. "No!" he said.

"Oh…" Deidara looked back down at the table, trying to understand what the hell was going on.

The Tsuchikage watched the little ten year old think, smiling to himself. "Exactly as I thought," he muttered quietly, looking down at the little, long haired boy. Theory proven. He sighed slightly to himself. _I've really got to stop being right all the time!_ He glanced down at the boy again, and saw a new look on his face. One of mild disbelief. He grinned again.

"_You, on the other hand, have no talent at all!"_

The words echoed repeatedly through Deidara's head, and his look of deep thought was replaced with disbelief. _He can't possible be implying…"_

His eye darted upwards, only to see the Tsuchikage smiling at him. He was pointing down at the lump of clay in the middle of the table.

"If a normal ninja tried to do that, it wouldn't work."

If Deidara had been a little less shocked, he would have managed to grasp the full implications of this sentence. But in his confused, a shocked state, all he could do was ask: "What? What are you- I mean…"

"If I tried to make clay like this, you know what would happen? It would turn into solid rock. That's just the way my chakra is. If the guard who accompanied you here tried, it would melt, and turn into glass."

"What are you talking about?" Deidara asked quietly. Suddenly, he felt very lost, and he did not like being lost. It always made him feel powerless. The Tsuchikage raised an eyebrow at him.

"What am I talking about? Oh come on, surely they've taught you about Chakra types at the training centre."

Deidara merely shook his head.

"Oh dear, what _are_ they teaching these kids," the Tsuchikage said, sounding amused. In truth, he had always wanted to say that some day.

"Well, I don't have time to teach you all now." He sighed. "Basically, there are four types of chakra, and every ninja uses one, or two of these types. Rock, fire, wind, and water," he said, ticking them off on his fingers. "I specialize only in earth, or rock type, myself," he added, before turning his attention back to Deidara.

"You're chakra, however, is completely unique. I've never seen anything like it, and I can tell you already, there is great potential in it. You, my little friend, are an un-intentional _genius!_"

For an almost infinitely long time, there was complete silence in the room, broken only by the distant sounds of children playing in the street below, and a few sounds from the hallways outside. The sun was setting distantly on the horizon, shining its dieing rays directly into the office window, and straight into Deidara's eye. He did not care much, though. He was completely shocked by this one.

_Me? A genius? I mean- But what does he mean by "un-intentional? How can you un-intentionally be a genius? I mean…_

_What the hell? _

But really though, all he could feel, was happy. He was extremely happy, because whatever it was that had just happened in the last couple of hours, the Tsuchikage had just called him a genius, intentional or not. He had even said that he had great potential. All the time he had been alone, researching by himself, creating his own art, when he could have been playing, innocently. But now… Now he could show his mother that she had been worried about his anti-social-ness for no reason. Inside, he laughed a little. _They'll really have to remove the "Un-intentional" part soon! _

But in the end, all he could say was: "Wh-What?"

The silver haired Kage looked at Deidara, amused by his reaction. It was priceless, really, since how many twelve-year olds are there that are told by the Kage himself that they are geniuses, without even knowing it themselves. He smiled.

"As I said, your chakra is completely unique. What's so special about you is that you can for example control chakra that is outside your own body, as if it was within you. If I tried to load that clay with chakra, the clay would absorb it, and, since I use earth type chakra, turn into solid rock. I have no control over it. You, however, still have full control of this clay, even though the chakra is not in you."

He pointed down at the clay, and Deidara fixed his eyes on it. "Try to shape it," the Tsuchikage said. "You control the chakra, so turn it into a square." Deidara looked up at him, looking pretty doubtful that it would work.

He doubted it would work. In fact, he even started to doubt that this was really happening. _It's probably more likely that I'm just lying in a hospital bed, in some sort of coma, with my eye blown out, dreaming that I'm being called special by the Tsuchikage._ But still, he could not deny that it seemed _very _real, whatever was happening. He fixed the lump of clay with a melting stare, and began to concentrate. Not really knowing what to do, he thought squares. He closed his eye for a second, and imagined the clay changing its form.

He opened his one eye. Nothing had happened at all. It was still the same, unshaped lump of clay that it had always been. He let out a bit of a sigh, before trying again.

"Feel it," he could hear the Kage say. "This is your own chakra. It's a part of you. Don't think about it, _feel _it."

Deidara breathed out, and tried to relax. In his mind, he tried to be calm, and not think. Mentally, he cast out his mind, trying to _feel _the clay. At first he felt nothing, and his mind was constantly bothered by random thoughts, like: _This is stupid,_ or _I'm hungry._ He bit his lip, and opened his eye. The Kage was gazing down at him, expectantly. He grimaced a bit.

He decided to try one more time. Stripping his mind of all defenses, he cast out of his mental barriers, and _believed _that this would really work. For the first ten seconds, it did not. But then, he finally felt something. Something nagging at the edge of his mind, like something you were about to say, but managed to forget. Squeezing his eye shut tighter, he immersed himself in the feeling, and was astounded to find that he could change it. He could _feel _it. Biting his lip again, he concentrated as hard as he could on manipulating it into a square shape. At the same time, he opened his eye. It widened in amazement.

Right before his eyes, the before unshaped piece of clay was changing. Writhing on the table, and flattening out the bumps. He stared at it, transfixed, as it began to take on an almost square shape. Although it still had tons of dents, it was no longer a random, twisted piece of clay. He laughed out loud at his accomplishment, clapping his hands together. Doing that made him lose concentration, and the clay stopped moving.

He looked up at the Tsuchikage, grinning eagerly.

"I did it, I did it! Did you see that? You were right." He laughed again. The Tsuchikage just continued to shake his head in amazement. Yes, he had been right, although he always was of course. But this was just amazing, as far as he could tell. He had never heard of chakra that was completely neutral before. If any one else did it, the clay would just change accordingly to the type of chakra the user had. But this kid could store chakra outside of his body, and control it on top of that. He was the only person who could control chakra that was not connected to his body in any way. He shook his head again. No one else in the world had the ability to do what Deidara could. He considered the potential, thinking of everything you could do with this kind of chakra. He smiled. It was definitely an advantage, that was for sure.

He nodded, chuckling a bit. "Yeah, that was very good, Deidara. With some training in chakra control, you'll have that down in no time."

But then again, who the hell was there to teach him this kind of chakra control? _Ill just have to hope that he's an actual genius as well, because he will have to think of all kinds of new techniques for this._

He looked down at Deidara, who was again looking down at the piece of clay, trying to make it change shape. The Tsuchikage watched the clay curiously, wondering what he was trying to make it this time. After almost a full minute of silence, the Tsuchikage could tell exactly what it was supposed to be.

A little clay bird, with its wings tucked into its sides. Its beak looked sharp, despite its small size, and its eyes were alive, somehow. He looked a little closer, and saw that the little eye-sockets were filled with drops of blue, shimmering chakra. The Tsuchikage could only shake his head in amazement again.

"Bravo, excellent work!" he said, clapping eagerly. "A real work of art!"

Deidara looked down at his little bird, and stroked it with one hand. "It really is, isn't it though," he said quietly. The Tsuchikage smiled, before looking up at the clock in the corner of the room. It gave him a nasty little surprise.

"Well, I think I've said all I can say, and frankly, I _have_ to get a _ton _of papers done _today_! So you can go," he said quickly. He had just wasted over an hour of working time, and that was no joke! Deidara merely nodded, picked up his little bird, and left, still petting it with one hand. ¨

"Ill see you tomorrow, when the teams are chosen," he called after him. Deidara did not even turn around. He merely nodded, and kept on walking. The door closed. For a while, the Tsuchikage just sat there, shaking his head slightly. He looked out the window, into the dark hills, illuminated now by the silvery glow of moonlight, witch made the hills glow, somehow. He smiled once more, before sitting down again, and pulling out a paper from the pile, labeled: "New Genin Teams." He quickly glanced over the paper, finally finding Deidara's name, listed under "Team Eight." He hesitated for a second, before talking out a small bottle of white paint, and whiting out Deidara's name from that team. He picked up his quill, and reassigned him to Team Seven. He smiled slyly as he picked up the paper, and looked at his handiwork. _Yes, that team should work out quite nicely…_

Even though it was an important day tomorrow, with the new teams and all, Deidara did not sleep at all that night.

-- -- --

Yuki Shihiro was not having a good day so far! _The one day of the year where being on time to school is actually important, and I manage to sleep in!_ The fact that this was a bad day had already been seconded by her tripping over a big rock in the middle of the road, and wiping out into the dust, so now her whole outfit was covered in dust. _Just perfect!_

Today, they were being put into their new, three man teams. Not that Shihiro did not already know exactly what team she would be on. Her father had told her last night. In truth, she blamed her father for letting her sleep in, but then again, that did not really count as an excuse to Ichiro-sensei. There was no such thing as excuses with him. As he constantly reminded her, he did not care in the slightest who her daddy was.

"As if I'd ever try to remind him," she growled quietly to herself, as she practically ran down the dusty street.

She did not try to _remind_ anyone who her father was. She hated being reminded of it herself, because she was already tired of hearing how her father was the fourth Tsuchikage. If she had a choice in it, he would just be a regular guy, because somehow, because her father was the village _genius_, every seemed to be sure that she was just a spoiled brat who wanted special treatment because of her daddy. Why they would ever think that, was completely beyond her, but it still annoyed the hell out of her.

An owner of a bookstore she knew, called out: "Good morning, Yuki," as she passed. She merely scowled back at the man, not really caring how rude she was being to this poor man, who had just tried to be nice. But she just really hated being called by her last name.

Just about two years after she was born, her father, being the arrogant bastard he was, decided that he should change the family name to Yuki. _"It means snow, or luck. The perfect name really," he would say, while brushing his flowing white hair back. Always while pushing his silvery white hair back. "Light, like snow," he would then comment._

_Arrogant bastard!_

She sighed, slightly exasperatedly, because even as she thought it, she knew that she did not really mean it. But still . . .

She was so distracted as she ran, that it was a big surprise to her when she realized that she was right outside the academy already. She stopped, and gazed at it.

The academy itself was a huge building, although you couldn't really call it a building. The whole facility was cut out into the cliff that towered over the west side of town. Within the cliff, their were caves, for training grounds, classrooms, and multiple staircases, some going all the way up to the battle arena at the top of the cliff, almost one hundred meters above her. Shihiro craned her neck, looking all the way to the top, where the stands of the arena sat. From the stands, a single bright red flag was flying. Graduation flag, since the graduation, and team-splitting ceremony was in the arena. She sighed slightly. Up all those steps!

By the time she was on the top of the cliff, she _was_ late. About five minutes late, a number witch seemed unforgivable, at least to Ichiro-sensei. The old bat spent a good two minutes telling her off, and sometimes yelling at her, even threatening at one point to hold her back from graduating, claiming that: "If a ninja is late, his team mates die!" Shihiro responded by shouting back at him, perhaps not the best idea in the world, but a serious relief on her frustrations.

"You can't do that! We were discharged from the academy yesterday, and this is just a traditional ceremony! You can't do _anything_ anymore you old bat!" she shouted at him. In the moment she left him speechless, fumbling for words, she spun around, and walked back to the stands, taking a random seat. A few guys whistled after her, cheering her on. She just raised her eyes as she walked; acting like she did not notice the looks she was getting from a few of the boys.

Shihiro would never think so her herself, but the fact was that a lot of the boys found her very attractive. Unfortunately, she had taken after her father, so her hair was naturally silvery white. She had fixed that, much to her father's outrage, by permanently dieing it red; a dark, earthy red color. But her hair still had the long, and flowing form of her fathers, and even she was standing still, her hair seemed to be shimmering, and moving. Her face was thin, but kind, with a sort of warmth. The rest of her was, according to most of the boys: "Well developed."

She scowled as she walked to the stands, and took a seat. _Why the hell can't those under-developed monkeys keep their stupid, primal instincts to themselves?_

So far, she had yet to find a single boy of her own age that she actually liked. Most of them were weak. In fact, she was the best ninja for her age, even rivaling those a few years older then her. She kept on scowling as she sat and watched their former sensei give a bullshit speech on how very proud he was of them all, and how having this job was the greatest gift he could have. "Yeah right," she heard a boy beside her whisper under his breath.

_This is boring! _

She gazed skywards, at the flowing clouds that were passing rapidly over her head, sped on by a strong, northerly breeze that ruffled her hair as she sat there. She shivered slightly, even though the sun was shining strong. She put her head in her hands, and sighed, just wanting this whole thing to be over.

Finally, the teams were announced. The only time she bothered to pay attention, was when the announcer finally announced: "Team seven will be consisting of…" He glanced down at his list for a second. "Deidara…" he paused. "Just Deidara, I guess," he said quizzically. A few people around the arena laughed.

"Yuki Shihiro, and Katon Deimon."

Shihiro laughed quietly, before getting up, and walking up to the front, where her other team mates were already standing. That last boys name was just as weird as it had been last night, when her father had told her about her new team. Back then, she had first asked whether he was joking. He replied that, no, he was completely serious (and right) about everything, and that he really had no time for this, because he had to work. She stopped, and turned around to face her new team mates.

For this ceremony, it was customary for the new team to stand in a circle facing each other, as to get to know them better. Then, they would each state their names, and say hello.

_Stupid ritual, since we were all in the same class._

Even so, Shihiro had not talked to any of her new team mates a single time, even though she had seen them plenty of times. Well, ok then, maybe she had not seen them that many times either. Mostly, she kept to herself.

On her left, there was a fairly small boy, with sandy blond hair, that went down to his shoulders. His long hair was brushed all the way to the side, so that it covered the whole left part of his face, hiding his left eye from view. He was wearing a brown T-shirt, and regular jogging pants, hardly fitting to wear for your graduation.

"Hello, I'm Deidara," he said timidly, looking around at his two team mates. Katon said hello, while Shihiro just nodded affirmatively. Deidara looked nervously around at the other two. Shihiro figured that it was probably her turn, seeing as how no one was saying anything. Silence, except for the flags whipping in the wind.

"Yuki Shihiro, but you guys just call me Shihiro!" It was not optional! She nodded at Deimon, who seemed to be suddenly snapped out of another world. He looked around quickly, confused, before realizing that it was, in fact, his turn.

"Oh, hey guys. I'm Katon Deimon. Nice to meet you," he said quickly. Shihiro merely nodded, noticing that he had said his own name with a certain kind of hidden malevolence.

_No wonder, really. I'd sure as hell be pissed if my parents had named ME Deimon. _She smiled to herself, holding back the urge to laugh. _No, that would just be mean._ The three of them looked around at each other, waiting for something to happen. At last, the announcer started to speak again.

"You guys will meet tomorrow at eight, in classroom twenty." He looked down at them very seriously. "And I was told that you are to bring nothing but your clothes!" He laughed slightly, before turning back to the crowd, and announcing the next team. Deidara looked at Deimon, obviously mystified by the instructions. Deimon just shrugged, before turning around, and walking away. Shihiro took his cue, and did the same, leaving Deidara, who was still standing there for some weird reason. Shihiro smirked, as she was walking back up to the stands.

_What a very merry team this will be._

As she sat down, one of the girls from her class leaned over, and whispered: "Do you think Deidara will cry after being beat by a girl in whatever test you got tomorrow." Shihiro merely shrugged, not really paying any attention. She was busy thinking about whatever test they had tomorrow.

It was common knowledge among the academy students that the new teacher almost always gave his new students a test on their very first day. Test's usually varied, according to which teacher you had. There were people in Shihiro's class who were two years older then her, having been held back twice, all by the same bastard teacher. Shihiro scowled, annoyed that neither her father, nor her former teacher had bothered to tell her witch teacher they would be getting.

Actually, screw the teacher; she just hoped that they would not be put through the infamous "Desert test." She did not actually know what you had to do for the Desert Test; she just knew that she did not want to do it. All six of the people who had been held back twice, had gone through it twice, not passing it either time. According to them, they had been strictly forbidden to tell anybody anything about the test.

For a moment, Shihiro felt nervous. But she shrugged it off, thinking that whatever they put her through, it couldn't be that bad. And why should she be worried? She had trained loads, and was the best ninja in her class. The only thing that could mess up whatever test was coming were her two team mates.

_But why in the world were we asked to bring absolutely nothing?_

No matter how she thought about it, she could come up with no plausible answer, and by the time she had given up, the ceremony was over. She was caught by surprise when everyone suddenly got up. She cursed silently, knowing full well that a ninja should never be surprised by anything, just because she was thinking. As she left the arena, she silently vowed to do better in the future. She had to!

She waved at her father as she passed him, but he did not seem to notice her at all. He just kept on walking, greeting various other, probably important people along the way.

Shihiro had been planning to go home, but instead, she decided to go to the training ground instead. At school yesterday, she had missed a target by five centimeters. Enough for a full miss, meaning the target may escape, jeopardizing the mission, her father had told her. It was the only thing that had kept her from getting a completely perfect score at her graduation.

-- -- --

Yuki Shihiro was one out of three people who did not go home, or to wherever their parents were to celebrate after the graduation ceremony. Katon Deimon had considered it, but decided against it, reasoning that he really had to practice for tomorrows test, whatever it may be. He grinned to himself, as he walked along the crowded streets. Whatever test came tomorrow, he was sure he could handle it. He just wanted to make sure. And anyway, his father had always insisted that he do some sort of work, before play.

He was heading towards the old training ground near the outskirts of town. It was his favorite place to train in the whole town, even though it had not been used officially in over five years. Back then, it had been called "The Lair." These days people called it the haunted house.

The old house was a huge villa, even before it became a training ground. It was one of the oldest houses in town, its construction starting only a year after the hidden village itself had been founded. Originally, it had been used by the first Tsuchikage, as a base of operations, but also as living quarters. Back then the mansion had been nicknamed Rose Red, because of the red color of the clay bricks, and also because of his wife's love of imported roses. However, the story went that somehow, while doing all sorts of various experiments with earth based Ninjutsu, he had managed to weaken the foundation the house stood on so severely, that if more then four people at a time entered, the whole thing would sink right into the ground. The damage was irreparable.

In the training ground days, they had been extremely strict about booking, since if two three man teams got mixed up, and entered the house at the same time, well… Luckily, it had never happened.

But now, the house was completely deserted, standing there by the outskirts of town, while it slowly fell apart. It stood alone across a street, with the back yards of various houses on the other side of the street. It towered up into the mid day sun, casting a long shadow over Deimon. Along the sides of the house, long, thick creepers, with thorns almost a quarter meter long were climbing up the building, looping around the window, and at points going right through the walls. There were places in the house, that if you tripped there, you would be impaled on one of the spikes. It did not help that very little sunlight seemed to make it through the windows, even if there was no glass in them. It was almost always dark in the house.

_Yeah, this place is really the best place to train in peace._

Ignoring, as he always did, the big "Out of Order DO NOT ENTERS!" sign that crowned the gate into the front yard of the house, he walked straight in the door. It creaked, flaking rust off the hinges as it opened, and slammed shut. Deimon walked in slowly, his footsteps muffled by the carpet of sand, and dust that covered the floor. For a second he froze, not making a sound, as if hiding from something. The only sound in the house was the wind, blowing through the open windows.

Then, suddenly, he lunged foreword, moving with amazing speed and precision, and scooped something up from the floor, into his hands. He drew himself up, smiling triumphantly. This was always the worst part of this training.

The captured mouse squealed shrilly between his hands, pawing and biting desperately to get out. Deimon brought the captured mouse up to eye level, and stared at it, concentrating. For a split second in the darkness, his eyes flashed poisonous green. But a second later again, his eyes were back to being normal blue. He smiled in the darkness. The house was completely silent, except again, for the soft whistle of wind, flying right through the house.

-- -- --

By the time it was four o clock, Shihiro was sweaty, and exhausted. She had been there since the graduation had finished at twelve, and had only taken two breaks since then. She stood alone in the clearing, now in only a tank-top, with her red hair tied back in a ponytail, breathing heavily. Her clothes were completely damp, and her face burned slightly, in the red afternoon sun, that made the dirt around her glow. Far to her left, there was a human target imbedded with enough Kunais to kill an elephant. Around her were various holes in the ground that she had popped out of, digging each tunnel faster then the last.

At the academy battles, that had been her greatest strength; her ace. She was pretty much almost as quick and agile under the ground, as she was above it. Her opponents always had a good time trying to figure out witch fire Jutsu they could use that could get her underground, or wondering where she was going to pop up, probably with a giant rock, or an explosive. The one time someone had flooded her tunnel with water, she had merely gotten the hell out of it, and kicked his ass. Simple! But digging tunnels was very hard work. She would have to work on her stamina…

She was tired, but still very happy. She always felt happy after a good training session, as if she had accomplished something important. She smiled, as she walked slowly around the clearing, catching her breath. She went over to a tree, and sat down in the shade, the lack of sun a relief to her burning skin. _Thank god for sun lotion…_

After a while of recovering in the shade, she got up again, and looked around the empty training field.

The only tree in the whole training field was the one she was standing beneath now; an ancient-looking old tree, that gnarled its way about six meters in to the sky, with dry, but not brittle branches, and large, prickly leaves. To the north, there was a giant pile of rocks and boulders, and to the right of that, was a large field of random boulders that had in time rolled off the hill, creating a sort of maze there. To the south, a river flowed, cracking the landscape in half. It was strange; the river seemed to be an actual crack. The ground just suddenly dropped off 90 degrees, and kept on going down. Even though the river was only about four meters wide, Shihiro had never managed to make it to the bottom. The walls of the river were just as smooth and flat as far down as she could go. It was almost like a natural bathtub, carved out of marble. She drew her gaze away from the river, gazing to the east, shielding her eyes from the sun. To the east was were most of the actual training things were, including targets, a projectile and shuriken cupboard, and high, arching stands for complex and multiple shuriken shots.

She walked over to the gigantic target stand, and stood beneath the arching wood, peering up. She felt proud, because today she had managed a deflection shot for the first time. She jumped up to the top arch, and began to take down the targets. She'd better get home soon, since her father always got so irritated, and annoyed with her if she was even slightly late for dinner. Not angry, but just annoyed, even though he did not express it much. Shihiro wished he would be just angry with her, instead, some times.

The streets were almost completely empty as she walked back home, her shadow double her size because of the now setting sun. On either side of the dusty street, giant apartment buildings made out of flaky rock towered towards the sky, giving her the feeling of walking through a mountain pass.

People always ate dinner so early here, including her own family. It annoyed her, since she was almost always doing something around four, that she had to finish by then, just because her parents wanted to eat. She sighed. Sometimes traditions can be so stupid.

"Hey, Yuki!?" a voice shouted behind her. She froze, and turned around, scowling, because she hated when people called her that. The shouter was a boy, about her own age. He had short, black hair, and a heavy, but agile looking build, with a devious smile, and a kind of spark in his eye. He came running up to her, smiling broadly. Shihiro did notice one of his friends, standing in the background watching. He was quite cute, on closer inspection. Shihiro tried to smile back, in a friendly sort of way.

"Yeah, I was wondering. Wanna do… Something?" He grinned at her, as if suggesting something. Shihiro crossed her arms, and glared at him.

"No," she said pointedly. She could see that the guy had to be at least two or three years older then her from here. But as she turned to go, she felt him grab her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"Come on, don't be so cold," he said playfully, pulling her back. Shihiro turned her head around, and tossed her hair back, giving the boy a patronizing smile.

And then she was gone!

The boy was not smiling any more, but staring in disbelief at the hole in front of him. He moved back nervously, looking back at his friend for support. He began to move backwards, away from the hole, stumbling around, and breaking into a run. But he was not fast enough, of course, because just as he began to run, the ground beneath his feet began to heat up.

He screamed loudly as the burning ground began to melt his sandals, and he ran as fast as he could back to the house where his buddy was, ripping off his sandals as fast as he could. Shihiro popped up on the other side of the field. She smiled again at the shocked boys, before running off. Behind her, she heard one of them say: "Wow, her dad must have taught her that."

She scowled. No, in fact that technique was her own invention. Her ace! _Why can't I ever resist doing shit like this?_

She managed to get around the corner, were she finally collapsed, her stores of chakra run down to a dangerously low level. She managed to roll over, and got a glimpse of the sky, before she could keep her eyes open no longer.

She really should try to expand her chakra limit.

-- -- --

Deidara just did not feel like going home, even though he was sure his mother was anxious to see him. They had not gotten a single chance to talk about what happened in the Tsuchikage's office, not because Deidara did not want to, but because his mother had been drunk by the time he got home. Or he at least assumed that she must have been by then, since she was gone, and the dinner she had made for him had been cold. Deidara had not bothered going to sleep, because he knew he would be awoken when his mother came stumbling back into the house, being about as stealthy as a hippo opening a fridge. Deidara sighed, as he retraced his steps from yesterday near the outskirts of town.

His mother did not go out drinking that often, but he hated it when she did. She had never drunken anything in her life, before his father had died. Officially, he was Missing in Action, but it could just as well have been a synonym for dead. The only difference was weather or not they were able to retrieve the body.

After Deidara's father had died, his mother had changed. Deidara was the only one who ever noticed, because on the outside, she was still the same. Her smile had not changed, and she still made him dinner, and put him to bed, just like she always had. But still, there was a difference. It was in the way she was, and did things. These days, it seemed more automatic, like she was on autopilot the whole time. Deidara wished she could get over it, and find someone new, but it never seemed to happen. Every time she drank, Deidara was scared, always fearful that she would do something stupid, or worse, irreversible.

Deidara bit his lip a little, not paying much attention to where he was going. He brushed his long hair back, over his shoulders, and kept on walking.

Over all, it was like she did not care anymore. She had lost interest, basically. If he came home from the academy in tears because the other kids had teased him for being a loner, she would hug him, and say she was sorry, but that's all she would do. Sometimes… Deidara was not sure, but sometimes it even seemed that she resented him, somehow.

_I think ill just go train until dinner…_

He looked up, and was almost surprised to see that he was already at his destination. He gazed up at the same hill where he had lost his eye, not twenty-four hours ago. It was strange, since it seemed a lot longer then that. He groped down into his pocket, and pulled out the small bird that he had been taking care of. He gazed at it for a long while, stroking it with one finger.

And then, he drew back his arm, and threw it as far as he could. He closed his eye, furrowing his forehead with concentration. Just as he had in the Tsuchikage's office, he reached out, trying to feel the chakra. This time, however, it only took him about two seconds to find. No wonder really, since he had been feeling it in his pocket all day now. He concentrated as he struggled to control the chakra, trying to stop the bird from revolving, and making it fly straight, and then curving its arc to the left. He opened his eye. To his amazement, the bird had actually changed direction slightly. He grinned with satisfaction. _And that was against the wind, too…_

"Release," he shouted, hearing his words being carried away by the wind. Instantly, the bird exploded, just about a metre over the desert sand. Deidara just stood there, watching the smoke rising off the blackened sand in disbelief, his mouth half open. _That power… I can do that?_

Slowly, he walked over to the impact zone, and looked it over. He laughed in amazement. Some of the sand on the top had actually turned into glass. He stared transfixed down at the impact. Sooty, blackened glass!

Excited by this success, Deidara ran back to the clay vein, and dug up a bunch more of the brownish clay, and took a fistful of it. Even as he was channelling his chakra into the new load of clay, he was considering the possibilities; witch right now seemed pretty endless.

_There are so many ways I can incorporate this explosive clay into my techniques. They work much better then those dumb exploding notes, since I control the explosion time. I can rig a whole battleground to go off at my command, given enough time. Or I could explode them one by one. But what's more, it's my chakra, so I can manipulate an explosive into looking like something completely harmless. Something an opponent would overlook in a battlefield. Then, I chase him towards the explosive: BOOM!_

Deidara smiled to himself. He suddenly realized that his had was shaking violently, and he was sweating all over, despite sitting in the shade of a rock. He quickly stopped channelling chakra into the clay. He looked at it pensively.

_The only problem though, is that it takes so long to make. I can't use two minutes to make clay in battle, nor can I take a humungous amount of pre-prepared clay with me. And anyway, you're prepared for the fewest of fights._

He frowned slightly. He would have to find some way to decrease manufacturing time. The problem, however, is that you could only force so much chakra out of his hand, or out of any other place in his body. The problem was that the clay was outside him, basically, and he did not really want to eat the clay. Besides, that would just take longer. Deidara shuddered slightly.

He sat down again, and leaned his back against the rock, wallowing in the cool shade. He brushed his hair back over his shoulders, and cursed himself for not bringing a hair band.

After a while, his thoughts turned to his new team. He did not really know much about either of them. Yuki Shihiro was the Tsuchikage's only daughter, he knew.

And Katon Deimon, well, he was an asshole. He had gone in the same class as Deidara for a few years, and Deidara already hated him. It had not taken long.

For some reason, Katon Deimon was just one of those people who were popular, without really making an effort at it. It just seemed that everything he touched turned to gold, and he was good at pretty much everything he did. It annoyed Deidara, because he always had to make a big show out of it. He did not say out loud that he was just the best, but that's what he seemed to be selling everyone. Deidara had actually been relieved when Deimon had not managed to get the best graduation score.

Yuki Shihiro, he now remembered, had been the person who _had_ gotten the highest graduation score, only one fault away from being perfect. That, combined with the fact that she was the Tsuchikage's daughter was all Deidara really knew about her. He had never talked to her, although from what he picked up, he was not the only person who could say that. Even though they had been in the same class, Deidara had barely been aware of her existence. Overall, Deidara found himself a little intimidated by his new team mates. After all, he had only found out that he was a genius yesterday…

The other thing about her, was that she was very pretty, or at least Deidara thought so. It was strange; because this was actually the first time he had seen a girl like that. It was an interesting experience. The first time I've found a girl pretty…

He sighed, and smiled slightly, as he thought about her flowing red hair, and her smile, when she did smile, witch Deidara had only seen her do once. He remembered that now.

But now that he thought about it, there were a lot of girls who had been in his class that could be called cute. He thought them over for a while, smiling at times.

And then, he sat up straight, and got to his feet very suddenly. He sighed, exasperated. _What's up with this, all of a sudden?_

By the time three hours had gone by, Deidara had executed a number of mine-detonations, completely synchronized, and sculpted a new bird, practicing his chakra control. Even now, he felt that the bird's shaping had come to him easier; more naturally. Smiling slightly, he tried to make it move slightly. As it sat there on the palm of its hand, it suddenly jerked its wing downward. Then back up again. Deidara laughed. _No matter… This is more beautiful to look at anyway. _He paced around his new training grounds, and collected as much clay as he could carry in his pockets. The sweat had drenched his shirt, pretty much, and he felt kind of light headed, from channeling away all that chakra. _They won't be able to notice if I just sneak a little bit of clay to tomorrows test, right? _He smiled, as he started homewards.

On either side of him, giant houses towered skywards. Deidara had just rounded a corner, when he saw someone lying motionlessly on the street. Apart from that, the street was deserted. Fear gripped Deidara for a second, and he ran over to whoever it was lying on the ground. As he got closer, he saw the red hair that was spread across the ground from her head, like a fan. He gasped. It was Shihiro. He rushed to her side, and kneeled down beside her. Her eyes were closed, her face gazing skywards, with a look of calm serenity covered her face. Deidara paused for a second. He had never seen a look like that on her face before. So… calm, but in a different way then the calm she usually was. Calm and calculating! Right now, she looked like she was asleep. She looked pretty.

For a second, Deidara feared that she was dead. "Hey… Can you hear me?" He shook her a bit, his eye starting to tear, out of fear. But then, to his great relief, he realized that she was in fact breathing. He put a hand on her forehead, to see if she was sick, while he shook her with the other hand.

"Shihiro?!" he almost shouted, sounding more worried then he had meant to.

She stirred. Her eyelids fluttered softly, and she moved a bit. Her half open eyes caught sight of Deidara, who was kneeling down beside her. A look of confusion made its way onto her face, as her eyes flicked around, taking in her surroundings. Her eyes fixed on Deidara's face.

"Yo-… You're eye…?" she said slowly, her gaze pointing at Deidara's left eye, witch was still stitched shut. A breath caught in his throat, and he quickly looked away, hiding his empty socket from view. "I lost it a couple of years ago," he said quickly, not really knowing himself why he did not just tell the truth.

"Oh…" she said slowly, still looking confused, and then: "Where am I?"

"You fainted in the middle of the street," Deidara said, trying to sound like it was amusing, but not managing to hide the slight quiver in his voice. "I just found you here." Shihiro nodded slowly, and slowly tried to sit up. She fell backwards the first time, but Deidara caught her, and helped into a sitting position, leaning against the wall of a house. As she sat there, with her eyes only half open, Deidara offered her a drink from his water bottle. She took it, and drank deeply, although managing to spill a great deal of it. The water seemed to revitalize her, and by the time she had finished, her eyes were again darting everywhere, taking in every detail. She sighed.

"I guess I went too far out," she muttered, looking down at the ground. Deidara did not ask what she was talking about, but sat down beside her, and took the empty water bottle from her.

"What was wrong?" he asked tentatively, looking over at her.

"Chakra depletion… I went to far out against some jerks who bothered me," she muttered, leaning her head foreword into one of her hands, using the other to push away her red hair. Deidara got up, and offered her a hand. She did not see it, or rather ignored it, and struggled to her feet on her own.

"What time is it?" she asked Deidara, more clearly this time.

"Nearly five, why?"

A look of fear spread across Shihiro's face. She looked around frantically, orienting herself to where she was. If that was true, it meant that she had been out for nearly twenty minutes. Her father would never forgive her.

"Oh damn it, I'm late," she said quickly, starting to hurry off the other way. She tried to run, but stumbled a bit, and settled for a fairly quick walk, still not completely stable again. She turned around, and smiled at Deidara.

"Thank you," she said. With that she was gone.

Deidara looked after her for a while, before turning in the opposite direction, and starting home again. He smiled as well. In the last twelve years, that was the second time he had _ever_ seen Yuki Shihiro genuinely smile.

When he got home, his mother was not there, after all. A meal was prepared for him, but it was already cold. He walked into the kitchen of their house, and put his head in one hand, tears welling up in his eye.

_For god's sake mom, it's only five, and you're at it already?_

_-- _-- _-- _

Shihiro was right; she was late. Almost a half hour late, witch was a major sin. It was made a lot worse by the fact that her parents had postponed the start of dinner, waiting for her, so now they were both hungry, as well as disappointed in her. Even though she could tell that her father was mad, he acted more like she had severely disappointed him. With not much more mention of the matter, they sat down to eat.

The third Tsuchikage was the only Tsuchikage who had never lived at the Tsuchikage manor, a gigantic building carved out into the cliff on the other side of the cliff the academy was carved into, overlooking the city. No, Shihiro's father _had_ to be the only Tsuchikage who decided that he wanted a simple, city life, in a pretty much regular house, in the middle of town. What made it irregular were the two squads of YTR who did not really exist guarding the house in shifts, 24/7. It drove Shihiro insane, because they had to do there best to be intimidating, and masculine, even the women in the squad.

Not much was said during dinner. The first stab at a conversation came when Shihiro's mother congratulated her with her graduation.

Shihiro had a strange relationship with her mother, in the sense that she never actually called her mother, or acknowledged that she was, in fact her mother. Day to day, she referred to her as either Raharu-san, or Haruko, her last name. She did not know why, it had just always been that way, really.

After that, nothing more was said, at least by Shihiro. Haruko-chan and her father were having some strange conversation, but Shihiro was not really listening. She could still feel the tension between her, and her dad.

After dinner, they retired to the living room, like they usually did. The Tsuchikage read, while Raharu-san watched some TV.

"Hey, come here," the Tsuchikage whispered to Shihiro. The living room had two couches, and the Tsuchikage was on the one opposite to Shihiro. The Tv was way at the other end of the room.

Out of curiosity, Shihiro scooted over to the other couch, and sat down beside him.

"I shouldn't really be telling you this, but tomorrow, your team is going through the desert test." Shihiro gulped, her worst fears having been confirmed. Her father looked at her, a look of concern on his face.

"Hey, tell you what," he said happily. "Either you pass or not, I can still teach you some awesome Jutsu. He winked at her. Shihiro felt the anger flare up inside her.

"Look, I really don't need you to do this! You can't keep on telling me stuff like this, and I definitely don't need lessons, especially from you," she said, louder then she had intended. Then, before her father could react, she stormed out of the room, and into her own room, closing the door behind her.

-

A ways away, Deidara lay in bed alone, a small stream of dried tears coming from his remaining eye. He was lying there with his little pet bird, testing various ways to make it move, whilst he stroked it with his thumb. He had got to the point where he could make both of the wings move about every three seconds.

"Yeah, this is _real_ art, he whispered to himself. He then picked up a tiny piece of clay, and threw it out the window, detonating it about halfway down. It made the noise of a fairly large fire cracker. He lay back, and laughed quietly as he heard the neighbors anguished yells of "Shut up!" again.

A/N: And there you have it. I hope you liked it.

I hope the explanation I put in for Deidara's unique ability is believable enough for you. As far as I can tell, no one else can directly control regular chakra outside of their own body like that. It would also explain why Deidara can use his clay to fly. Basically what he is doing then is flying on a model held together by his own chakra. Thereby, he also directly controls his mount.

Btw, did anyone catch the FLCL reference?  ,

I also hope you liked my Oc's for this fic. Thank you, come again!  


Eureka


	3. The Desert Test: Part 1

_Hey there guys... _

_I was originally planning on writing this in one big part, but it came out sort of slowly, and I did not want to make you guys wait so long, so here is part one. Also makes a bit of a cliffhanger effect. :P  
So hope you guys enjoy this. If you read, please leave a review. Peace, people_

_-Eureka-_

_Edit: May 6: Minor corrections applied...  
_**_ The Desert Test_**_ - Part one  
_

The morning sun rose early, over a village that was pretty much completely asleep. The sun crept into the village, and heated the sand, cold after a long night. It was a beautiful morning, with not a single cloud in the sky that could be seen. The empty village streets were swept clean from dust by a strong wind coming out of the north, and the birds were all hovering over the town, pretty much in a standstill against the wind.

Not very many people at all liked to get up at six in the morning, but being the Tsuchikage of the village, Yuki Saiton did not really have a choice. There was always things that had to be done, and it was always better to get them done sooner then later, in his mind. This morning, he woke up at six, as he usually did, but instead of getting out of bed, and trudging off to work, he just lay there, staring at the ceiling.

There wasn't any work to be done today. He had finished all the paperwork he had yesterday, so today, he really did not have to get to his office until when he actually _should_ get there, eight thirty. He sighed, looking over at his wife, Haruko, sleeping peacefully next to him. He sighed again, and rolled over, gazing out the bedroom window, where sun was starting to filter in through the patchwork blinds.

Knowing full well that he would never manage to get back to sleep again, he got up, and got dressed, trying not to wake his wife up. He quietly slid the balcony door open, and snuck out, closing it behind him.

The balcony was pretty much his favourite part of the house, since it got a beautiful view of the village. His house was three storeys tall, instead of the standard two floors, which allowed him to gaze across almost the whole village. He felt like he was a child, sitting on his parents' shoulder, able to just see over the heads of the crowd. Here and there, a multi storey apartment building was sticking up, and a ways away, straight ahead, was the academy, with Tsuchikage Manor on the other side of the cliff. It looked like the front of a ship that had crashed into the village, and split it. If you removed it, the village map would like like a pie, witch someone had taken a piece out of. A gust of wind blew his silvery hair back, and he smiled, as he looked out over the village. Behind him, he heard his wife slide the door shut behind her, as she came out to join him.

"Beautiful day today," she said softly, as she came to his side, and held him. He stroked her black hair, back, nodding slightly.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" she asked, sounding worried. She looked up at him, but Saiton just kept on gazing out over the village, now with a slightly concerned look on his face.

"I don't know," he said slowly. "Her team is the best from the whole school, I made sure of that… But I can't decide what test he's going to give them. He decided to put them through _that_ test, and I can't stop him." He looked down at his wife, who was looking nervous.

"I mean, I managed to get _him_ to come out of retirement, just to head this team."

"Can't you-" she began, but the Tsuchikage cut her off.

"No, I can't. I cannot show favouritism, just because she is my daughter. As a Shinobi, I must treat her like I do everyone else." Haruko laughed shortly, smiling grimly up at him.

"I'm afraid you broke that rule the second you put her on that team. Honestly… Making a team with the three best Shinobi this village will probably produce in decades… It's not reasonable…" She grabbed his hand, and put her arms around him. Saiton put a comforting arm around his wife.

"She'll be fine, you're worrying way to much," he said reassuringly. "I'm sure that team seven will be the first team to pass this test on the first try. I have confidence in Shihiro!" He smiled, turning his attention back to the quiet village. His wife broke from his grasp, and stood beside him, silently observing the village with him, a troubled look still lingering on her face. A black bird, with a red chest flew right up to them, landing on the balcony rail, a few meters away from the two. It observed them silently, but neither of them paid any attention to it.

"But when I imagine what they'll be asked to do…" Haruko started, spinning towards her husband, looking at him imploringly. "They're just kids, and this specific test is usually reserved for the Chuunin exams." She looked at him pleadingly.

The Tsuchikage tilted his head towards his wife, not turning around.

"I already told you, I can't go against _his _wishes. He was very excited, and eager, when I described this team to him. This test was the first thing he decided on. And besides, they'll all be fine. Shihiro's smart!" he said, trying to be reassuring, but final at the same time. His wife gazed at him for a while, before nodding, and turning back to the village, where the occasional villager could now be seen wandering the street's, or setting up shop. The bird by their side took flight, almost brushing the Tsuchikage as it flew by.

"I just hope that you're right," Haruko said finally. The Tsuchikage smiled, and gave her a small hug, before turning around, and going back inside, leaving his wife alone on the balcony. He smiled to himself, as he heard the sounds of Shihiro making herself breakfast downstairs, even though it was only six-thirty. _Really, she doesn't have to be up for another thirty minutes, at least! _

Deidara woke up early that morning, and spent a few minutes just lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. In the pit of his stomach, he somehow felt a sense of impending doom. He was nervous, since he had only met his team mates once, and was expected to pass some sort of test. Test's always made him nervous and this one especially bad, since he seriously did NOT want to be held back at the academy for another year. _No, whatever happens, I must pass, no matter what._ Not being able to lie still any more, he hopped out of bed, and began pacing back and forth.

He grabbed the bird he had made last night down from his shelf, and gazed at it, trying to make it move again. It's wing began to go up and down, as if it was saying hello to him. He smiled, and waved back at his little work of art, before crushing it into a round ball of clay, and putting it into his pocket.

The announcer had said to bring nothing, but Deidara had no plans of following that. _Who will notice a bit of harmless clay, anyway? _He smiled to himself, thinking that this new ability of his was already proving to be extremely useful. He sat down, and trained his control, by trying to transform the clay into a wide range of shapes as fast as he could. A shot of excitement came every time he managed to contort it into a new form. _Just since yesterday, I've already gotten faster!_ He smiled again.

After a half hour, Deidara decided to go downstairs. His mother was note awake when he got downstairs, so he sighed, and grabbed a frying pan out of the closet. He quickly fried a few eggs, and ate, all the time listening for his mother. By the time he was finished, it was almost time to leave. He glanced at the clock on the wall for a second, hesitating, before walking up the stairs, and carefully opening his mother's room door.

It was completely dark in there, and at first Deidara was completely blinded by the darkness. He noticed the smell, though; like something old, with hints of gin and tonic. He frowned slightly, as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He looked around. The one side of the room was mainly occupied by a big desk, the top made out of plywood. It was littered with various pieces of clutter, and papers. On the left, there was a dresser, with tons of drawers, but nothing on the top. At the far side of the room, there was a big, double sized bed, with a small shelf over it.

Deidara gasped, biting down on his lip. On the bed, his mother was lying, and beside her, was some shirtless man Deidara had never seen before. The man was laying spread eagled, with his one arm dangling down to the floor. Deidara backed away, shocked, a tear in his eye. He turned, and ran, not stopping until he had slammed the front door behind him. There, he looked back up at the house. He sighed, before brushing off his sleeve, and beginning to walk. He glanced at a clock in a shop window he passed, and realized with a small jolt that he only had ten minutes to get there. He broke in to a run, tearing down the deserted street as fast as he could, as if chased by the long rays of morning sun that had appeared behind him in the street.

He was panting by the time he got to the academy. He looked up at the cliff, and groaned. _Classroom twenty… Classroom one is top floor, twenty classrooms a floor…_

He shook his head, and ran in the front door, starting up the steps, jumping them two at a time. Apart from him, the academy seemed to be pretty much deserted. _I bet none of the other teams had to get up this early… _

A clock on the wall told him that there was two minutes left. He jumped three steps, and almost tripped, just managing to grab onto the rail.

There was less then a minute to go when Deidara finally barged into classroom twenty. He opened the door, and jumped inside, where he stood, gazing around, panting. Shihiro and Deimon were both sitting down at opposite sides of the room, both staring at him, as though he had blown his way through the wall. Deidara's eyes widened suddenly. On top of a bunch of desks at the back of the classroom, was a big collection with every type of weapon Deidara could think of: Short swords, long swords, and a whole pouch of various throwable sharp things, accompanied by smoke bombs, and various scrolls, marked things like: _Explosive scroll: Only remote detonate._ And _Great fogs summon; Use with care._ For a second, all he could do was stand and stare.

"Good morning," he managed to say, nodding at both of his team mates, before walking to the back of the class, and picking up one of the long swords, admiring the gleaming steel blade, with the smiths name etched into the side. He held it up, and spun it around, smiling as he watched it twirl in his hand.

"You know we weren't allowed to take anything with us, remember?" Deimon said lazily behind him. Deidara spun around, putting the sword back down onto the table. Deimon smiled.

"You wouldn't want to fail us all, would you?" Deidara shook his head, before turning back to the table, examining the things on it, but not touching anything. His notion that Katon Deimon was a jerk seemed to have just been reconfirmed.

Looking at his own watch, he realized that it was only ten seconds left until they were told to be here. He looked around the classroom, and went and sat down at an empty desk, in the middle of the classroom. Looking to his left, He saw Shihiro smirking at the front, looking slightly nervous. He also saw what had to be a scroll, and a kunai on her side, hidden by the loose T-Shirt she was wearing. He smiled, resisting the urge to ask whether or not she wanted to fail the whole team.

Deidara did not have much time to think, though, because at that exact second, the door to the classroom slid open, and their new teacher walked in.

Deidara's first impression was that this man had not slept for at least at least a year. The area around his eyes was sullen, and sunk, with dark shadows sticking up the sides of his nose. His hair was short, ruffled, and jet black, while in the bottom of the pits that were his eyes, were specs of bright green. His outfit was fairly simple, consisting of the standard Jounin outfit: A brown vest, and a belt, holding whatever he may need for battle. The mans sunken eyes looked around the room keenly, taking in his three students.

"All here? Good… You would have all failed, had any of you been late, of course." He smiled smartly to himself, as Deidara's eyes widened slightly, shocked over how close he had been to failing his whole team. The man kept on gazing at them, a small smile playing around his lips.

"Right," he said finally. "All of you meet me at the western town gate in fifteen minutes. Same lateness rules apply." And with that, he merely turned and left, slamming the door behind him. Shihiro looked slightly indignant, while Deidara looked confused. Deimon merely shook his head, got up, and left. Deidara looked over at Shihiro, who shrugged, before getting up, and leaving as well, leaving Deidara there alone. He shook his head, and managed a small smile of amusement. _Looks like we got a real fun teacher… _

He got up, and went over and picked up the long sword again, twirling it around in his hand, before spinning on the spot, and sending the blade of the sword right through the nearest desk. It cleaved it cleanly in half, not leaving a single splinter on either side of the cut. Deidara gasped, and looked around quickly, before quickly putting back the sword, and leaving as quickly as he could.

------ .--. ------

When Deidara arrived at the villages west gate, about five minutes later, his two team mates were already there. Shihiro was leaning against the small booth were the gate guard usually sat, while Deimon was over on the other side of the road, sitting on the stairs of some old wooden house. Deidara glanced at the two of them, before crossing the street, and sitting down cross legged under a tree that stood beside the border booth. He looked around, not seeing any one else in the streets, or anywhere else. Really, no one was up at this hour. Beside him, Shihiro was ignoring him completely. Deidara was ignoring his two team mates as well, preferring to take out the small ball of clay he had in his pocket again. As he converted the ball of clay into a pyramid, he sensed Shihiro watching him closely. She immediately averted her gaze when Deidara looked over at her, however.

When exactly five minutes had passed, Deidara looked up to see their new Sensei walking down the dusty street. In the red morning sun, which shone directly at him, it was all the more obvious how pale he was. He walked towards them, and then stopped, without saying a word. He surveyed them quietly.

"So," he began, looking around at the three of them, whose eyes were all on him.

"Who brought any weapons today?" he asked, looking around at all of them, before his eyes stopped at Shihiro.

"Anyone?"

Biting her lip, Shihiro sighed, and grabbed the Kunai and scroll out from her belt. She resignedly walked foreword, and threw them to the ground, before crossing her arms, and looking at their Sensei, who was smiling triumphantly.

"Oh yeah, and Deidara," he added, still not taking his eyes of Shihro. Deidara tensed, and clenched his hand into a fist, as he always did when he got nervous.

"Yeah?" he answered," trying to sound calm.

"Got any of that clay of yours?"

The question hit Deidara like a punch, although not a particularly hard one. Of course, the Tsuchikage must have told him about Deidara's ability. Now that Deidara thought about it, it was actually likely that this whole team had been orchestrated by the Tsuchikage himself. What exactly were the chances, otherwise, of the two best academy students, and a "genius" making the same team? It probably would not be allowed, since that team would be so overpowered. He bit his lip slightly.

_What exactly does the Tsuchikage expect me to do?_

"So, Deidara?"

The voice brought him out of his own little world, and his head shot up, looking around. He caught sight of his Sensei right in front of him. Everyone else seemed to be staring at him. He bit his lip slightly, and pushed his long hair out of his eyes, while smiling.

"Well, I guess you caught me," he said, while smiling. He put his hand into his pocket, and closed his eyes. He pulled the clay out of his pocket, and held on his palm, stretching him arm out. He opened his eyes, and gasped, exhilarated. Sitting on his palm, gazing out at everyone was a little bird, whose head was turning back and forth. He smiled triumphantly to himself. _I've gotten much faster, just in these two days…_

Both of his team mates were staring at the little bird on the palm of his hand. He saw Deimon flash a look of surprise, before it was quickly washed away, and replaced with a tiny smile. Shihiro's look remained completely unreadable; she betrayed nothing at all. Their Sensei laughed a bit, nodding slightly. His sunken, green eyes were fixed on Deidara, and his bird.

"So that's what the Tsuchikage was talking about," he said quietly. Deidara's smile faded slightly. Their Sensei nodded again, before turning around, and facing Deimon, a strange look on his face. A mix of amusement, and disappointment.

"And you?" he said quietly. "I _know_ that you must have something up your sleeve." He reached out his hand, as if demanding to see exactly what it was. Deimon just looked at him sourly, before sighing, and walking foreword from where he was standing across the read. He pulled out a small piece of paper, barely bigger then Deidara's hand, which seemed to be marked with a variety of black markings. Deimon held out the paper, displaying it to their new Sensei, who nodded slightly, gazing down at the paper intently. Then he motioned for him to put it away, and looked around at the three of them.

"You were told to come to this test completely unprepared. _With only your clothes,_ I believe the message was," he said slowly, and quietly, shifting his gaze in-between the three of them. Deidara just looked at the ground, biting his lip, while none of the others said anything.

"Very well… Ok then, you all pass again," he said simply. Deidara's head snapped up to look at him, not sure if he had heard correctly. The other two were also looking at their sensei, Deimon looking surprised, and Shihiro smiling ever so slightly. Their sensei looked between them, as though surprised by their reactions.

"It would be directly irresponsible to come to a big test like this without anything… It can't hurt, and what if this was a trap of some sort?" He looked between them smiling.

"Name's Satou, by the way," he added offhandedly. He turned, and began to walk out the gates. Deidara quickly got to his feet and followed behind him.

"And now… On to the actual test," Satou said cheerfully, leading the way. Behind him, Shihiro was smiling, looking satisfied for some reason. Deidara was fidgeting, looking nervous, while Deimon looked as though he was eating a lemon.

Satou left the town through the western gate, and lead them out into the desert. Behind them, Deidara could see that his view of the village was beginning to get distorted by the heat already rising off the sand. The dusty apartments swam in his view, each looking as though they were about to fall down. Directly in front of them was an ancient forest, about a mile away. It started suddenly, with a clear line where the desert suddenly ended, giving way to huge, thick trees, with gnarled branches, and gigantic leaves.

The sun seemed to hate the three of them that day, because even though it was still early in the morning, it was already attacking them with all it had, beating its hot rays down on their red necks, and melting Deidara's clothes while he was still wearing them. It covered the whole desert with its heat, not leaving even a single spec of cool shade. The shady forest seemed to Deidara to be hundreds of miles away. He brushed his hair out of his eyes, and continued, noticing that the other two were sweating as well. The only person who did not seem bothered at all by this attack, was Satou. He was not even breaking a sweat, even though his clothes were about twice as thick as any of theirs. For some reason, it annoyed Deidara, as things so easily do when you are hot and burning.

Suddenly, Satou stopped. He spun around on the spot, facing his three students. They all stopped, Deidara looking around. He could see absolutely nothing special about this spot. It was just the middle of the desert. He squinted in the sunlight, looking around.

"This is the spot," Satou announced. He paused for a second, before reaching into his belt, and pulling out three scrolls, and holding them out in front of them. One was red, one green, and the other white, each with a black stripe going through the middle. They all stared at them.

"This test is built up like a mission," Satou started, smiling cheerfully. "It's like a practice mission, so to say, so complete it as you would a regular mission. The objective of this mission is to deliver these scrolls!" He smiled, and handed them a scroll each. Deidara got the red one. Shihiro instantly put her scroll in her belt, securing it in the safety of her pouch. Satou smiled again. Deidara felt a small pang of nervousness. There was something strange about how this man smiled. He did it too much, and it looked strange, what with his tired eyes. He glanced down at his scroll, but was quickly brought back by Satou speaking again.

"To complete the mission, take every single one of these scrolls to the place marked on the map." With that, he suddenly produced a paper map out of his sleeve, and shook it open. There, in the middle of the ancient forest was a place marked with a big red X. With a flick of his wrist, he rolled the paper back up, and gave it to Shihiro, who smiled politely.

"Remember, this mission is completely essential." he said, suddenly completely serious. He looked at each of them in turn, before saying, "Time is of the essence!"

Then he smiled again.

"Well, good luck," he said.

And he was gone. He just disappeared into thing air, without making a single sound. Deidara almost shouted out loud when he was suddenly staring at just air. Shihiro looked surprised as well, while Deimon just stood there, arms crossed, surveying the place where Satou had disappeared thoughtfully. With a single movement, he pocketed his scroll, and turned around, ready to go. Deidara was beginning to feel nervous again.

_This is too easy, so far. There's got to be some sort of major danger in those woods, or else it would not be a test at all. Is this some sort of exercise, to see who can finish the obstacle coarse without dieing? _His heart rate sped up a little. He was about to say something, but Shihiro beat him to it.

"Wait," she said, motioning at Deimon. He stopped, and turned around to face her. Deidara turned to Shihiro as well. She brushed her red hair back with a flick of her hand, and smiled, as if she knew something they did not. Deimon rolled his eyes at seeing her smile. Deidara just stood between them, not being able to decide what to do.

"If you leave, and we each go our separate ways, we'll fail," Shihiro said. Deimon raised his eyebrows.

"Will we now?"

"Yes we will," Shihiro said, sounding exasperated. "This isn't an individual test. Why do you think that they put us in teams in the first place?"

"Teamwork," Deidara said quietly, looking from Deimon to Shihiro.

"_Exactly_," Shihiro said, glancing over at Deidara, before continuing.

"Since we are in a team, we have to act like a team. My father tells me this all the time. A ninja is not truly strong on his own," she recited. "It is only as a team, that we will succeed, don't you see. Ill wager that if you run away from us now, Satou will pop right back, and tell us we've failed."

But he won't, Deidara suddenly realized. The mission was top priority, and as long as they completed it, it did not matter what they did. He kept his thoughts to himself, however, and listened to Shihiro. It would of course be a lot easier if the three of them stuck together. He barely had any clay to fight with.

On Deidara's left, Deimon was still looking sceptical.

"I think he made it pretty clear that this is a race, when he said _Time is of the essence,_ he said.

"But even so, it'll be easier with three people then if we are each alone. I mean who knows what kind of things we may encounter in that forest. None of us have ever been there." She turned to Deidara.

"What do you think?"

Deidara was slightly taken aback, and he could almost feel Shihiro looking at him questioningly. He looked down slightly.

"I think you're right," he said quietly, before looking up.

"It'll be faster, and safer with three," he continued, louder this time. "The mission is failed if we can only bring one, or two of the scrolls. We have to stick together!"

Shihiro smiled at him, and nodded. Deidara felt himself go slightly red, although it may just as well have been the sun. Deimon looked at the two of them, before nodding as well, in a way that seemed to say: "I guess so."

"Let's go then," Shihiro said, drawing out the map, and showing it the both of them. Without another word, the three of them turned, and began running towards the deep, cool forest. As they were running, Deidara smiled. He had just thought of something. He took the scroll out of his pouch, and put it in the safest location he could think of. He stuck it into his pocket, and slowly, his clay crawled up the side of the scroll, laminating it in a thin layer of his clay. Now, it was inside _his _chakra. How much safer could it be? He put it back into his pocket.

He smiled again, before upping the pace a bit, wanting to get to the cool shade of the trees as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the trees did not seem to want to come closer, although that was probably just the sun playing a mean trick on him. Deidara scowled, suddenly wishing they had been made to do this in the middle of the night in stead Or any other time, just as long as he did not have to deal with the evil, evil sun.

They stopped when they finally reached the forest line. Deidara gazed at the trees in wonder. Up close, it was an amazing sight. These huge, towering trees just appearing out of what meters before had been dusty desert. The way the forest seemed to be an impenetrable wall of foliage, trees, and fallen trunks. In the top branches of the tallest tree Deidara could see, a flock of black crows were sitting, enjoying the sun. Suddenly, a gust of cold wind came out of the forest. Deidara shivered. Even with the beautiful specs of sunlight filtering through the tree branches, creating sunlight patches, and little lakes of light, the forest looked ominous to him. He shook himself a bit, and turned his attention back to the mission on hand. Not a second of concentration lapse could be allowed.

"Where do we go," Deidara asked, looking around the parameter of the forest. As far as he could see, there was nothing close to resembling a path leading in to the forest. Beside him, Shihiro pulled the map out of her pouch, and flicked it open. For a second she stood there, tracing something on the map with her finger, and turning around on the spot. And then she pointed directly in to the forest, straight ahead. They all nodded, and sped off, plunging foreword into the foliage.

The minute Deidara entered the forest; he seemed to leave the angry sun behind. The forest was nice and cool, with only occasional patches of sunlight. It seemed to Deidara as though he had suddenly passed through an invisible barrier, because the minute he entered the forest, everything seemed to go quiet. The only thing he heard was the sound of his own breathing, and his feet pushing off the gnarled branches. For a second he was scared that he had been left behind. But when he looked around, he saw that both his team mates were there, almost right beside him. Deidara was amazed that he had not managed to hear them. He scowled slightly, and strained his ears some more. _Perfect for an ambush… This is a test, after all._ He looked to all sides as he ran, now on the lookout for anything that moved. A crow in a tree surprised him so much, that he was halfway towards throwing a knife at it, before he realized that it was just a harmless bird. He sighed, and tried to calm down, and think clearly, trying not to be so edgy.

Suddenly, Deidara realized that both of his team mates had stopped, and were standing on a huge branch a few meters below him. He quickly did a 180 in mid air, and pushed right of the side of a tree, landing down on the branch where the other two were standing. Shihiro already had the map out.

"How far is it," Deidara inquired, as he got up. Beside him, Deimon was not looking at the map, but surveying the forest suspiciously. His left hand was shifting nervously against his kunai pouch. Deidara watched him, before carefully looking around. He thought he sensed it as well…

"Its about a mile straight ahead," Shihiro announced. She tucked away the map, and looked up at the other two, who were both surveying the forest.

"What i-"

"Something's wrong!" Deimon said suddenly, holding out a hand to silence her. He kept on carefully sweeping the forest around him. Shihiro looked slightly annoyed at the command, but looking slightly rattled. She quickly looked around.

"Have any of you heard a single animal here?" Deidara asked carefully, looking around at the forest, which seemed to be completely empty, apart from them. The silence was so complete, that it was almost spooky. The other two shook there heads.

"Except for a stupid crow," Shihiro added slowly. She did not have to say much more, however, since at that moment, something white fell down at her feet, right in between the three of them. Deidara looked at it incredulously.

"It's bird poop," he said slowly. He looked around at the other three, before they collectively raised their eyes skywards. It was all Deidara could do not to scream. Beside him, Shihiro's look hardened considerable.

A couple of metered above them, nestled in the trees, and small branches, were crows. Thousands of crows, all looking down at them, eyes glowing green. There were big ones, with talons as thick as fingers, ruffling there feathers impatiently. The whole sky above them was blotted out into the mass of writhing blackness. Around them, a few other splats of white started to rain down. The first move had been made. Beside him, Deidara could hear Deimon breathing shakily.

"Please tell me that isn't a kunai that one bird has in its claws," Deidara said shakily. He could feel his hand shaking, and he quickly jammed it into his pocket, collecting all the clay he had into a ball in his hand. Above him, he could feel the mass of crows bearing down on him, like some hellish cloud.

Beside him, Shihiro had whipped out a Kunai. Deimon was standing completely still, tense, holding out the small piece of paper he had given to Satou. For a short second, absolutely nothing happened, and all that could be heard was the rustle of the leaves in the cool breeze. Then, above them, one of the birds gave out a piercing scream.

Deidara reacted instantly, not quite knowing what he was doing. He saw a glimpse of the crows jumping off the branch, diving towards him, before he had run right down the branch, and was hanging upside-down below the branch. Above him, he felt a few of the crows hit the branch above him. On either side of the branch, crows poured down, smelling him out. One crow flew directly for his eyes. Deidara clenched his eyes tightly shut, as he released all of the chakra that was holding him to the branch. He fell straight for the ground, and he was relived to see that the crows could not follow him downwards that fast. As he was falling, he formed a half seal, and whispered: _"Release!"_

The branch that he had just been attached to exploded, showering him with little splinters, mixed with a few feathers. Deidara smiled slightly, satisfied, as he spun around in the air, looking for where he was going to land. Suddenly, his eyes widened, as he saw a small pack of crows flying right into his falling path. He pulled his feet up, and shielded his face with his arms, as he prepared for the impact with the bloodthirsty scavengers. It never came.

Just below him, Shihiro flashed straight through the pack of crows. Metal flashed for a second, before three or four crows fell dead to the forest floor. Deidara landed on a second branch, and looked up, still on his knees. Shihiro was attached to the side of a tree, right above him, looking around frantically. Deidara quickly looked around, but did not see anything. He stuck his hand into his pocket, checking his reserve of clay. He frowned slightly. _Just enough for one more explosion… _

"Deidara, look out!" Shihiro suddenly shouted, pointing straight down. Deidara looked down, and saw a crow flying straight up at him, its beak aiming at his middle, around his Kunai pouch. He jumped sideways, just barely avoiding the bird, which went speeding further upwards, breaking through the leaves. He glanced sideways, just in time to catch a glimpse of something black speeding towards him. He just managed to dodge it as well, but not before it took a nibble at his Kunai pouch.

_They're going for my scroll,_ Deidara suddenly realized. He jumped down from the branch he was standing on, down to a thicker branch below him. Shihiro jumped down to it as well, and they both landed back to back, each looking around.

"They're going for the scrolls," Deidara said quietly, just as he slashed away a crow that attacked him from above, sending it flying down through the trees. For a second, Deidara closed his eyes, trying to think. All around him, he could hear the flapping wings. His eyes snapped open.

"Listen Shihiro, we have to gather them all in one place! If we can gather them, I can take them all out at once." He turned his head, and saw Shihiro nod. Her face was sweaty, and stained with droplets of blood. She was grimacing, and Deidara saw that she had a small cut along her side. He nodded back.

She did a front flip down from the branch, and landed perfectly on the ground. The second she landed, she began to run, crows already trailing behind her. Deidara followed, jumping from branch to branch, occasionally slashing down a crow with his kunai. But most of the crows seemed to be following Shihiro. Deidara smiled slightly, as he started shaping his clay in his pocket. Frowning slightly, he also pressed a little extra chakra into it, enough to half the amount of clay he would have to use. He smiled again. _Enough for two explosions now!_

Suddenly Shihiro stopped, in the middle of a clearing in the forest. Deidara stopped on a branch overlooking it, and hid among the leaves. _It would be a real pain if any of crows decided to bother me now…_

The crows were swarming around Shihiro now, all drawing in closer, closing in on her from all sides. Deidara bit his lip, as he picked the piece of clay up, readying himself for whatever was coming. He slowed his breathing, and tried to concentrate. If this did not work, it would be a real pain.

Slowly; gently, he released the small clay bird he had in his hands, concentrating with all his might on feeling the chakra as a part of him. He gave it a small push into the air, and watched it glide foreword in the air for a few seconds. Then Deidara grinned, before diving it towards the flock of birds, which were only meters away from Shihiro.

Deidara frowned. The bird did not want to pull up from its dive. A drop of sweat rolled down his forehead, as he struggled to stabilize the bird. _At this rate, it will fall short of the pack. _The birds were almost touching Shihiro now, and Deidara could see a steely look of concentration on her face; she was waiting until the last possible second.

Deidara gave a small grunt, and below him, the bird flapped both of its oversized wings simultaneously, throwing it back up into the air. Deidara stared at it, exhilarated. He sent it careening towards the birds, laughing as he made it do a barrel roll in mid air. Out of the corner of his eye, Deidara thought he saw Shihiro grin.

And then she was gone!

The only trace that she had ever been there, was a small hole in the ground, exactly where she had been standing a split second earlier. The whole was quickly closed up again, however. Above the ground, a few birds crashed into each other, expecting to catch Shihiro. Deidara grinned.

"_Release!"_

In the middle of what seconds before had been a swirling cloud of black, there was a huge explosion, enveloping everything in a cloud of fire. Deidara saw it before he heard it, and when he heard it, he _felt _it. The huge rumbling made his very bones shake. He shielded his face with his arm, and squinted down at the clearing.

Lying all around on the green grass was black feathers, and little red chunks. There was barely a speck of grass left that was not covered in feathers, or pieces of crow, and the trees around the clearing where all spattered. Deidara examined his arm, and recoiled slightly, suddenly feeling slightly sick. There was a piece of crow stuck to his arm. He quickly brushed it off, running his hands over his whole T-shirt, brushing away a few drops of blood.

Suddenly, the branch he was standing on made a loud splintering noise. Deidara jumped to the side, just as Shihiro came up, right through the branch.

_What the…? She must have dug right up the tree trunk!_

For a second Deidara, just stared at her incredulously, before jumping back down onto the branch where Shihiro was.

"You can do that?" he asked in slight disbelief. Shihiro smiled slightly, wiping dirt off her face.

"I was about to ask you the same question."

"What?"

Shihiro looked at him questioningly. She was busy tying her red hair back up, since the band had come off during the attack. Deidara smile slightly, noting off-handedly that she looked kind of cute, with her shimmering red hair falling playfully down her forehead and neck, and her pale pink T-shirt that fell over her loosely, flapping slightly in the breeze. A black pattern played across the bottom of her shirt. She looked prettier with even a questioning look replacing the usual cold, or annoyed look.

Deidara almost slapped himself.

"Well, I mean having an exploding model bird made of clay, that can actually fly," she said, turning her head slightly to gaze at him. Deidara felt slightly nervous. _How exactly do I explain this?_

"Well… That's kinda my special technique, I guess," Deidara said slowly. Shihiro raised an eyebrow. Just then, Deimon jumped down onto the branch right between them, making Deidara start, and reach for his kunai. Deimon did not seem to notice at all. Shihiro frowned at him, as she brushed some hair away from her forehead. Deidara looked over at Deimon, and realized that he was injured. A long gash went up his side, ripping through his shirt, making a long strip of blood right down his side. Deimon did not seem to care. Neither did Shihiro.

"Where were you?" she demanded, crossing her arms. Deimon looked back and forth at the two of them, before smiling.

"Fighting them my way," he responded. Out of the corner of his eye, Deidara saw a flash of black flying towards him. He spun around on the spot, kunai out, ready to cut the crows head off. But then, it stopped. The crow landed softly on a branch, and just stood there, looking at him questioningly. Deidara looked up, and saw five more crows, a few with kunai's, and even one with an explosive tag, just hovering there. He turned to Deimon, who was smiling confidently. He motioned the crow towards him with a flick of his finger. The crow on the branch in front of Deidara took flight, and flew straight over to Deimon, where it landed on his shoulder. Deidara stared in amazement as Deimon then commanded each of the other crows to fly around, before all landing on the ground. As she observed the situation, Shihiro's arms were crossed, and her face unreadable. She just observed, with a slight frown on her face. Deidara winced slightly when Deimon ordered the bird with the exploding tag to go and blow itself up. There really was no point in senseless cruelty like that. Deidara put his arm on Deimon shoulder, grimacing slightly.

"Come on, we need to get going," Shihiro said finally. As she turned around, she stumbled slightly, wincing in pain. Deidara caught a look at her foot, and saw that there was a long gash down her ankle, which had already soaked her sandal in blood. He grabbed her shoulder to steady her, but she held up a hand to show that she was fine, before nodding them off. Deidara nodded slightly, and jumped down from the branch into the clearing. The wind was blowing the black feathers away, but the blood remained. Deidara tried to ignore it. Shihiro appeared beside him, already with the map in her hand. She gazed at it for a couple of seconds, before pointing to Deidara's right. He nodded, and all three of them jumped back into the trees, moving as fast as they could, each eager to get out of this hellish forest. Deidara did not really want to know what else in there wanted to kill them. This had just been a couple of birds, after all. He shivered slightly, and put on an extra burst of speed. Suddenly, ahead of him, Shihiro turned to the left. Deidara stopped suddenly, and looked after her.

_Strange…? I could have sworn that it was straight ahead._

Deimon suddenly landed on the branch beside him, and without hesitation, jumped after Shihiro. Deidara merely shrugged, and sped off in the same direction, speeding along to catch up. In the back of his mind, however, something was nagging at him. _Something was wrong!_

In his mind, he conjured up the image of the map that Shihiro had shown him. He frowned. It _had _been straight ahead, he was sure of it. He looked over to his right, gazing nervously around the suddenly menacing forest. The trees were dark, and looming, looking as if they wanted to eat him. Deidara started running along full speed, desperate to catch up to his team mates. In an attempt to distract himself, he started to think random thoughts, such as: _I wonder why they call this the DESERT test? I mean, this is a gigantic forest._ Then he remembered that it was his job not to get distracted during a mission. He had to complete it…

_What is going on? _

_ --- ---_

___  
Still looking for a betareader, BTW. :P_

___Kthxbye, have a nice day! _

___-Eureka- (Again)  
_


	4. The Desert Test: Part 2

_**Hello there people... : )**_

_**So here is a new chapter for you all, to make your weekend more entertaining. Hope you enjoy it. If you read this, please leave a reveiw, telling me what you think. ; )**_

_**This is a pretty action-packed chapter, but I tried to keep everyone in character.  
And in response to a comment I got: Originally I had intended to have Deidara's age at ten, but in the middle of the first chapter, I decided to change to twelve. I guess I missed one of the times it said ten, instead of twelve.  
**_

_**In other news, I am still looking for a good beta for this fic. If you think you can give good suggestions on rewriting parts, and have an eye for errors, drop me a line:) **_

_**And now, enjoy the rest of Deidara's pre-Akatsuki adventures:P**_

_** -Eureka-**_

_Chapter T__hree _

"Hey, wait up Shihiro," Deidara shouted. Ahead of him, Shihiro suddenly stopped on a branch, looking back at him questioningly. Deidara landed on the huge branch beside her, and straightened up, leaning himself against a pillar-sized twig that was sticking up from the branch. A few short seconds later, Deimon landed beside them, looking confused.

"What are you playing at, Shihiro," Deidara asked her accusingly, frowning. "The delivery spot is that way!" He pointed his finger to their right. "What's the point in turning left?" Shihiro looked confused, and looked where Deidara was pointing.

"What are you talking about? I never turned left… We've been heading this way the whole time," she said slowly, looking back and forth at Deidara and Deimon. Deimon merely raised his eyebrows, while Deidara looked at her disbelievingly.

"What are you talking about? You just turned left suddenly, about ten seconds ago," Deidara said, annoyed. Shihiro looked insulted, and gave him a frown.

"Are you calling me a liar? I think I would remember if I made a turn," she said angrily, crossing her arms, and fixing her gaze on Deidara. Deidara fumbled slightly for a response, but Deimon beat him to it.

"But you did make a turn, and the way we should be heading is that way," he said, pointing to the right. "I think it's better if I lead," he added, the slightest indication of a smile on his face. He held out his hand.

"The map please, Shihiro." Shihiro looked between the two boys indignantly, before tossing back her red hair, and angrily thrusting the map into Deimon's outstretched hand. She looked slightly hurt, and confused. She gazed angrily at Deidara for a second, before shaking her head, and looking away to the right. Deidara bit his lip slightly, sighing. Suddenly, Deimon was gone. Deidara looked around for a second, before realizing that he was on the move. He pushed off the twig he was leaning on, and sped off after him, leaving Shihiro to trail behind him, angrily muttering something he could not catch. As he sped along the branches, he stole a couple of glances back at her. It was just so strange, since it was not like Shihiro to make mistakes. Even if she did make a mistake, she had always admitted it at once, along with how she planned to do it better. He frowned, and shook his head, speeding up slightly. Really, he just wanted to be out of this forest as fast as he could. He stuck one hand into his pocket, just to make sure that his scroll was still there.

Suddenly, Deidara noticed a change of scenery as he went along. It was a gradual change, so he barely noticed at first. Here and there, the huge, gnarled trees were giving room to huge pine trees, big as the ancient trees themselves. It started slowly; one or two pine trees in sight at all times. But after a while, it was getting so that Deidara had to really look where the next non-spiked tree branch was. Once, he accidentally almost jumped straight into a pine tree. He managed to do a barrel roll like move in the air, narrowly avoiding the prickly stem of the tree. Around him, he could see Shihiro and Deimon moving there way through the maze of suitable branches. Deidara merely shook his head, and gave up, dropping down onto the forest floor to run along it. The floor of the forest was covered in a soft mat of brown pine needles, that made his steps almost inaudible. Here and there, a rock, or stray branch stuck up. _Perfect to camouflage things in… Explosive notes, for example,_ he thought off-handedly. He stopped in his tracks, flicking his eye around the forest floor. Then he shrugged, deciding that he'd just have to take that risk. Ahead of him, he saw Shihiro and Deimon, who had also retreated to the ground, running along.

Suddenly, ahead of him he saw Shihiro and Deimon stop dead in their tracks, both looking around urgently. In front of them was something that Deidara could not quite make out, since Shihiro was standing right in front of it. To him, it looked like a pile of grey stones. He ran over to where they were standing, and stopped, looking around.

It was a door. A single stone door, standing there in the middle of the forest, looking very out of place. The blank stone slab was fit into a finely carved frame, which curved upwards towards the stop, ending in a nice little spire. On top of the spire, there was a gold plated sun, which was glittering in the real sunlight. The door itself was completely grey, and featureless. Completely featureless. It did not have a door handle, or any other way of opening the door, Deidara realized. The only thing on it was a tiny black hole, that seemed to go right through the door, no thicker in width then his little finger. Deidara stared at the door, before glancing over at the other two.

"What is it?" he asked slowly, glancing over at Shihiro, who was busy running her hand over the rough surface of the door.

"What does it look like?" Deimon said, not looking at him. "What I want to know, is what the hell it's doing here."

Beside him, Shihiro sidestepped, and tried to walk straight past the door. She had not walked more then a few steps however, before she stumbled backwards, as though she had hit an invisible wall.

"What the-" Deidara uttered, looking over at Shihiro. Shihiro managed not to fall backwards, and straightened up. She stuck her hand foreword, but suddenly it was stopped. Frowning slightly, she ran her hand back and forth in the air, as if rubbing an invisible wall. Deidara stuck out his hand, and just like he thought it was instantly stopped by some sort of invisible barrier. He frowned, putting all his weight behind his hand, but the barrier would not budge. Meanwhile, Deimon was investigating the door itself, rubbing the rocky surface with his hand, and pressing his eye against the small hole.

"It's some kind of barrier," Shihiro said, running her hand over it. In a flash, she grabbed a kunai from her pouch, and slammed it against the barrier, or whatever it was. There was no sound, but the kunai stopped as suddenly as if she had hit a brick wall, not even budging whatever was stopping them.

"What kind of technique is this… I mean, you can't just make a whole wall of chakra. Even the Kage himself probably couldn't…" Deidara said slowly. Deimon nodded, still looking over the door. Shihiro smirked slightly at the mention of her father, but nobody noticed.

Deidara crouched down, and jumped as far as he could straight up into the air. When he reached the top of his jump, he kicked foreword as hard as he could. Pain rang down his leg, and the kick pushed him straight backwards. Deidara stabilized himself by flipping over backwards, and spinning around to jump of the trunk of a nearby tree. He landed straight by the door again, panting. Deimon looked slightly amused.

"What's with this door, then," Shihiro asked, frowning at it.

"I don't know, but it won't budge," Deimon said, glancing over at it. "I assume that that tiny hole goes straight through the barrier… I'm also sure that there is no way we can force the barrier open," he added.

"What makes you so sure of that?" Deidara asked carefully, glancing over at the door as well. It did not really look all that strong. _One good load of my clay would probably clear it out of the way…_

"Well, if their going to make the invisible barrier completely impenetrable, they certainly would not do any less with the visible one," Deimon said, as though this was obvious. Deidara did not quite take his point, and sighed slightly, looking over at Shihiro, who was pushing her red hair out of the way, while looking thoughtful.

"Well this is obviously part of the test, so I'm guessing we'll have to work as a team to get through this," she said slowly, looking over at the two of them. "In that case, that would mean that we each have to use our own special abilities in combination somehow…"

"Can you dig underneath the door?" Deidara asked, glancing over at her nervously. That's how he had been feeling for pretty much the whole mission, nervous. But now, it was getting harder to hide it. _How the heck are we supposed to get through this?_

Shihiro suddenly reappeared out of the hole she had just made, shaking her head. Deidara sighed, and turned to the door, starting to feel slightly desperate.

Then suddenly, without warning, Deimon began to walk foreword, eyes shut, and arms outstretched like a zombie. He walked right past the door, as if there was nothing there at all. Deidara's eye widened in surprise, and he too started foreword. The invisible barrier was just as solid as before, however, and he stumbled backwards, surprised. Shihiro was looking at him, a look of surprise on her face.

"It's a Genjutsu," Deimon said in amazement, looking back at the door. "It's just you who think that there's something there… you who are telling your own nerves that you feel something there," he said quietly, before looking up again, and saying to the other two, "There's no way to open the door from here either."

Shihiro nodded shortly. She threw back her red hair, which was shimmering in a patch of sunlight, and formed a seal with her hands. She closed her eyes, and started foreword, slowly. At first Deidara thought she had managed it. She had pushed slightly past the barrier, carefully crossing it, before she was suddenly thrown back, as though she had been punched in the stomach. Her eyes snapped open in surprise, and she winced in pain, as she fell backwards onto the ground.

"Shihiro, are you ok?" Deidara said, starting over to her. She nodded, still wincing a little as she pushed herself to her feet. Deidara nodded, before turning back to Deimon. He was casually looking around, walking slowly foreword, as though checking for traps.

"How are we supposed to get past?" Deidara shouted. Deimon ignored him, holding up his hand to indicate that he should be quiet. Deidara frowned, annoyed. _It's just a Genjutsu, for heavens sake…_

"Hey guys, listen up," Deimon said, shaking a hand over at the two of them to get their attention. Deidara turned, and Shihiro looked up, her eyes flicking around the area around Deimon, looking for something.

"It's a bound Genjutsu," he said.

"That means it's a Jutsu bound by an anchor other then the person that used it. The most common anchor is a scroll, but anything you can write on works," Shihiro added, looking over Deidara's questioning face. Deidara nodded quickly, going slightly red. He hated being the only who did not know something.

"I've tracked the source," Deimon continued, pointing over to a spot in the trunck of a tree, straight ahead from the other side of the door. "But the problem is, the scroll is protected by an actual Ninjutsu barrier. The whole area out from the door for about three meters is sealed off. I can't get through it, but I'm pretty sure that that hole in the door goes right through the barrier."

"Well what do you sugest we do, shrink ourselves down to the size of a slug, and crawl through the hole?" Deidara asked, more desperately then he had intended.

"Of course not," Shihiro said coldly. She walked foreword to the door, and kneeled down, pressing her eye to the hole. She stayed there, completely still, as if measuring something through the hole. Deimon was circeling the area around the barriered area, all the while keeping his eyes on the hole in the tree trunk where the source was.

Meanwhile, Deidara was just standing there, mildly shocked, and wanting to slap himself. He had let his emotions carry him away. He had allowed himself to panic, and panic was your biggest enemy on a mission. For a few seconds, he closed his eye, breathing slowly. When he opened it, it instantly started darting around, taking in the situation. He turned his head to the side a little, compensating for his halved field of view.

"Shihiro, you had the best accuracy mark ever at the academy, right?" Deidara asked, looking around behind him.

"Yup," she said tonelessly, still not taking her eyes off the door. Deidara nodded, and set off into the forest, eyes surveying the forest floor, looking for a suitable stick. He heard Deimon say something to him, but he ignored it, and continued into the forest, holding up a hand indicating that he was fine. Finally, he found a suitable candidate, propped up against a pine tree.

He picked it up, and surveyed it. The twig was from one of the old, gnarly trees, but it was almost completely straight. Here and there, little twigs and spikes stuck out of it. Even though it was barely as thick as his little finger, it was strong, and very brittle. It would break before it would bend. Perfect.

Deidara frowned slightly, nervous, not sure if this could ever work. He brushed his long, blond hair out of his face, and concentrated. He focused his chakra, not into the stick, but into the open air around it. He pressed it out through his palm, trying to keep hold of it. He remembered his conversation with the Kage; this was his ability: the ability to control his chakra, even if it was not connected to it in any way. He shut his eye, and when he opened them, he almost laughed in surprise.

Floating in the air in front of him was a shapeless cloud of palely green stuff. It was like water, or some sort of liquid, even though it was acting like a sort of smoke, and even though it was swirling slightly, it was still see-through. _So this is chakra…_

He grunted slightly, and realized that he was sweating. He fought to regain control, since the chakra seemed to be evaporating. It flickered slightly. _It's much harder to hold chakra, if it's not bound to something, _he realized. His left hand was clenched into a fist.

Smiling determinedly, he tried to shape the chakra. In the air in front of him, the form of a bird slowly appeared. He smiled, but at the same time, the bird flickered a bit. His fist was shaking, and his breathing sped up. For a second he had considered just feeding his chakra through the hole, and destroying the anchor with it, but now he realized that he would never make it. He had little time to lose. Slowly, he modelled the light green chakra around the stick. When it covered the hole stick, he closed his eyes, and shaped the chakra exactly how he wanted it, independent of the stick. He frowned slightly, and pushed.

When he opened his eyes, the chakra was gone. He just caught the last bit of it evaporating into the air. He looked down, panting slightly. In his hand, the twig had been shaped into a perfect needle, right the deadly pointed end. He poked his finger with the end, and instantly, a drop of blood came out. He smiled, twirling the newly made needle in between his fingers. It had been much harder then he had expected, however, and he could feel his chakra system's tiredness at this simple task.

He stuck his hand into his pocket, and drew out a tiny bit of leftover clay, barely bigger then his fingernail; not nearly enough for an explosion. But that was not the point, either. He focused a little extra chakra into it, however, just to make sure it was at the maximum. Smiling, he smeared the clay along the tip of the needle. He smiled, as he examined his work. No time to lose…

He quickly strode back into the clearing by the door, where Shihiro was trying get through the barrier again, and failing miserable. Her face was red, and she looked more annoyed then ever. From the other side, Deimon was watching her, slight amused at seeing Ms. Knowitall fall flat on her face against a simple Genjutsu. Shihiro looked over at him venomously. Deidara ignored this whole exchange, and waited until Shihiro had got back up again.

"Shihiro," he almost shouted.

"What," she said irritable, not turning around.

"I have a way to get us through."

This caught her interest. She turned away from the barrier, and looked over at him, again brushing her red hair back from her now dirty face. Deimon was watching Deidara sceptically, as Deidara pulled out his needle.

"Shihiro, I need you to throw this though the door, right into where the anchor is. It's a straight shot, right?"

Shihiro nodded, understanding his idea. On the other side, Deimon was still looking sceptical. He did not say anything, however, and merely watched passively. Shihiro walked over to Deidara, and took the needle from him. She turned around, and aligned herself with the door, ever so carefully. She squinted slightly, crouching down to look straight through the hole, which was about at the same height as her waist.

"You only have one shot at this, you know," Deidara said carefully.

Shihiro nodded irritably.

"Can you do this?"

A pause, and then she nodded again, slower this time. Slowly, gracefully, she brought her hand up above her head, in a slow arc. It paused for a second at the top, before Shihiro swung her arm back down, completing the circle. With a flicking motion, as if she was snapping her fingers, the needle shot straight ahead. Deidara held his breath, concentrating on timing. To his relief, the small projectile went soaring straight through the hole, and directly into the hole in the tree. Deidara closed his eyes, and to his relief, felt the chakra at once.

"_Release!"_

From the hole in the tree, Deidara saw a little shower of sparks. He just hoped that there was nothing protecting the scroll itself, physically. For a second after the sparks vanished, nothing happened. Deidara held his breath, well Shihiro watched stoically.

Suddenly, a small plume of smoke started out of the hole. Relief washed over Deidara, and he smiled broadly, shaking back his long hair. He ran ahead, straight through where the barrier had been seconds earlier. He laughed, and turned around when he got past the door.

"Nice shot, Shihiro," he said happily. Shihiro smiled back at him, and walked over to him, past the stone door. Deidara smiled, and turned to Deimon, who was standing with his back turned to them, looking up in the trees, as if scouting for enemies. He turned around, and walked over to them.

"So, which way is it," Deidara asked, glancing at Shihiro. She did not answer, but drew the map out of her pouch, and turned away from them, walking foreword a few steps. Deidara followed her, looking around, trying to orient himself.

"I think it's that way," he said, tentatively pointing about straight ahead. Shihiro nodded slowly, lowering the map.

Suddenly, Shihiro spun around on the spot, whipping a kunai around in her right arm. Deidara was caught completely by surprise, and had no time to think, before she had released the kunai. Deidara felt his legs automatically tense, ready to jump out of the way, but at the same time, he felt a searing pain in his side. Shock stopped him from screaming in pain, and he stumbled slightly. As he fell, he caught a glimpse of Shihiro's face, as she came to a stop, facing him, her hair whipping around as she stopped her turn. She was smiling triumphantly, already holding another kunai in her left hand. Before Deidara had hit the ground, Shihiro had disappeared, leaving only a hole in the ground. Deidara put a hand to his side, feeling where the kunai had pierced him. Even in his shocked condition, he could tell that he had been lucky. He had managed to avoid a serious injury. Drawing all his strength to him, he put two hands around the kunai, and pulled it out. He screamed in pain as he felt the cold metal exit his flesh. Stars blinking in front of his eyes, he managed to push himself up into a standing position. He stumbled, and leaned up against a tree.

Over by the door, he could see Deimon looking around frantically, trying to see where she had gone. He was holding two kunai's in his right hand, and was holding a half seal with his other hand. In a second, he was beside Deidara, who was still leaning against the tree, breathing heavily.

"Are you Ok, Deidara?" he whispered frantically. Deidara nodded, still doubled up with pain.

"What the hell just happened," Deimon asked quietly, quickly glancing all over clearing.

"Don't know… She just attacked me," Deidara stuttered, before realizing what was about to happen. His eyes widened in realization, as he heard a small cracking sound behind him.

"Sh-She can burrow up trees," he said quickly, looking frantically up at Deimon, praying he would get the picture. Deimon gasped, and gazed straight up, just in time to avoid getting a kunai through his skull. He jumped up, and pushed off the tree, propelling him away twenty feet. Deidara just jumped blindly sideways, avoiding Shihiro as she came speeding down from the tree he had just been leaning against. As he jumped, he caught another glimpse of her face. She was smiling manically; she was having _fun,_ it almost looked like. Deidara landed on the ground, and slid backwards a couple of feet, before grinding to a halt beneath another tree. A couple of meters away, Shihiro just stood there, smiling, hair flicking around in the breeze. Deidara just stared at her, in disbelief.

Then, suddenly, her eyes went wide with horror. She looked slowly over at Deimon, who was crouched on top of the stone door in attack position, to Deidara, lying on the ground, still bleeding through his shirt.

"What did I do…?" she whispered in horror. She clutched a hand to her head, falling down against the tree, shaking, tears in her eyes. Deidara watched her, confused. Over by the door, Deimon was watching her, unsure what to do. Suddenly, Shihiro jumped up again, and jumped back up into the tree. She was gone.

Suddenly, a kunai appeared out of the tree's above Deimon. He caught it with his eye, and blocked it with a swipe of his own kunai. Shihiro jumped down into the clearing, and suddenly, there was two of her. _Earth clone,_ Deidara thought, staring at the two of them. Both Shihiro's ran at Deimon full speed, one taking to the trees, and the real one charging him straight on. Deimon jumped back to another end of the clearing, drawing a scroll out of his pocket. The same one he shown to Satou. He threw it up into the air, and caught it with his other hand. With his other hand, he formed a half seal. He smiled.

"Seal of command, primary," Deidara heard him shout. He looked around, looking for some sort of effect. To his horror, absolutely nothing happened. It had not worked, he was sure that it had not worked. The real Shihiro, (was it the real one?), continued to charge him. Deimon jumped down, and blocked her kunai with a blow from his own. He instantly ducked, and did a half spin, whipping his kunai around the other side. _It's going to hit!_

But it did not. It seemed that either Deimon got slower, or Shihiro suddenly got faster, since she managed to meet his blow with an awkward backhand. They continued fighting, trading blow after blow. Time again and again, Deidara though Deimon was going to hit, but every time, he was blocked.

_He can't bring himself to hurt her,_ Deidara finally realized. _He's not hitting her on purpose, since any of those blows would have maybe killed her…_

Suddenly, Deidara saw the clone Shihiro had made in the trees just above Deimon, and he had his back turned. The clone jumped down, kunai in hand.

"Deimon, _behind you!_" Deidara shouted desperately. To his horror, Deimon did not react in time. He did not turn around at all; he was too busy blocking a blow from the real Shihiro.

But suddenly, a rock, about the size of Deidara's fist, wobbled on the ground. It began levitating, and suddenly, like a gunshot, it pelleted towards the clone. It went right through Shihiro's head, before she even got close to Deimon. Where the clone just had been, there was a cloud of dust. A kunai clattered down onto the forest floor. From where he was lying, Deidara could see Deimon smiling slightly.

Suddenly, Shihiro made a jump for a tree. Before Deidara could quite understand what had just happened, she was gone, and Deimon was alone in the middle of the clearing, breathing hard.

"_No,_" Deidara whispered, gazing up at the spot Shihiro had disappeared. Deimon turned to him, and nodded slightly.

"Can you still walk," Deimon shouted over at Deidara. Deidara nodded, pushing himself to his feet, wincing a bit, still not taking his eyes off the spot where Shihiro had disappeared. He closed his eyes, and blocked out the pain. He just needed to think about this. He really did. He took a few deep breaths, before opening his eyes again, his pain forgotten. For now, he knew what he had to do! He ran over to where Deimon was, and took a defensive position with him.

"We have to take her out." he said quietly and emotionlessly to Deimon, glancing up in the trees, expecting an ambush at any time. "Kill her if we have to," he added, this time not managing to keep a slight shiver out of his voice.

"What? Are you crazy?" Deimon whispered frantically back, spinning around to face him.

"Stay on guard," Deidara hissed back at him.

"She was herself just now," he hissed back. "This is a team! We can't just kill our team mates."

"We have to," Deidara said, almost shouted. He was glad Deimon's back was turned. It gave him an opportunity to wipe the tear from his eye, without Deimon noticing.

"I… I just can't," Deimon whispered back quietly.

"We have to!" Deidara hissed impatiently. "We-… _I_ won't allow this mission to fail. _She still has the scroll_."

Deidara turned around, and looked straight at Deimon. He was looking shocked, as though this was the first time this had occurred to him. He bit his lip slightly.

"I can't fail this mission," Deidara whispered, gazing at him, a look of hopelessness on his face. Deimon glanced down, as though feeling guilty. Slowly, he looked up, and nodded. Deidara nodded back, and they both looked up into the now silent trees, which were swaying slightly in the wind.

"It's almost as if she was being controlled," Deidara whispered to himself, not sure if Deimon could hear him. He glanced over at him. Deimon was still gazing up into the trees. Suddenly, the two of them had both jumped. Deidara ran foreword as fast as he could, following the trail of footprints in the tree branches, Deimon following closely behind.

_Just let us make it__…_

As they sped through the trees, Deidara noticed that the forest seemed to have gone awfully quiet again. He could no longer hear any birds in the trees, and the sound of the trees ruffling in the wind was all he could hear. It was strange; he could barely hear his own footsteps.

Suddenly, from his right, he glimpsed a flash of metal. Without thinking, he jumped straight upwards from the next branch he landed on, twisting around in mid-air, trying to get a good view of what was going on. Below him, he saw a kunai speed by, just where he would have been. But now he was coming to a stop, and for a split second before he began falling down, he was completely still in mid-air. Below him, he glimpsed Deimon jumping around, looking for Shihiro, kunai in both hands. Then, straight bellow him, he saw something that made him gasp in horror. Right below him, on the branch he was falling towards, three exploding notes were fizzing away. Deidara flailed his arm around, trying to grab on to something, but all he was doing was waving his arms through the air. As he fell closer, he could see the exploding notes getting shorter. The tree was only meters away now…

Then, without warning, something smashed into him from the side, pushing him out of the way. Deidara screamed in pain as the wound on his side was hit. Dizzily, he felt himself flying through the air, pushed forward by some unknown force. Behind him, he heard the tree branch explode, with a mighty rumbling, and a splintering sound.

Suddenly, he was slammed down against a tree branch. His head connected with the rigid bark, making everything go black for a second. His breathing came in short, sharp gasps, and he could feel a warm sensation spreading from his side, where the kunai had pierced him. He forced himself to open his eye. Above him, he could see Deimon shakily getting to his feet, brushing off his arms. He glanced down at Deidara.

"Sorry… That's the best I could do," he said, smiling apologetically. Deidara nodded slightly, and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, while grabbing a kunai out of his pouch. He glanced around, but now, there was only the soft sound of trees, in the wind. He closed his eyes, and tried to calm his breathing; tried to listen past the vast silence of this wood.

Deidara snapped his eye open. Hastily, he shakily pushed himself to his feet, and stumbled over to Deimon.

"I have a plan," Deidara whispered. Deimon paused, glancing over at him, before nodding, to show that he was listening. Deidara leaned over, and whispered into Deimon's ear. His face hardened, and he nodded. Deidara nodded as well, before closing his eyes, and pressing his hand against the rigid bark. Instantly, he felt the now familiar faint sensation, and after a while, he fell over backwards, breathing heavily, feeling as though his strength was sapped dry. He pushed himself to his feet again, and pushed a little more, until he was sure that he was finished. He looked up at Deimon, and nodded, before jumping up, and taking place in a branch above the one Deimon was on. He sat there, and watched tensely.

For a while, nothing happened, and all that could be heard was the wind, ruffling the big leaves above his head. Deidara felt the rigid tree sway slightly, and gripped the branch harder, tensing slightly. Nothing happened. Below him, Deimon was standing there, glancing around, holding a kunai in a defensive position. Then, Deidara saw him pull out a small scroll, the same one he had had before. But this time, he did not do anything with it, except look at it. _Probably one of those battery scrolls,_ Deidara thought absent-mindedly. _He's probably checking to make sure it's not empty._

Slightly lost in his own thoughts, the initial attack caught him by surprise. He glimpsed something moving towards Deimon very fast, but he ignored it at first. Suddenly, he heard a clink of metal, and he saw Deimon parrying a blow from Shihiro. He pushed back, and went skidding along the length of the branch, coming to a stop just before falling off the edge. The two fighters stood facing each other. Deidara could see Shihiro glancing around, no doubt looking for him. _She won't stay here to long…_

Deimon held up his hand in a one handed seal. Suddenly, a pair of rocks came soaring from the ground, to rest at about his eye level, hovering lazily. Deidara's eyes widened slightly. Deimon moved quickly. He jumped foreword, throwing a kunai ahead of him. Shihiro deflected the kunai, but had to use a very awkward backhand to parry Deimon, which threw her off balance. She stumbled slightly, but as she did a clone of her rose out of the tree bark, and launched itself at Deimon, who was still skidding. The clone was faster, and at this rate, he could never block…

Suddenly, both of the rocks that had just been hovering there, shot foreword, like small grey bullets. The first stone caught the clone in the middle of the eyes, and it splintered out of existence. Shihiro was caught by surprise, and had to jump to avoid the speeding rock. Deidara saw the determination in her face as the rock suddenly curved upwards to meet her. Deimon looked up, and caught Deidara's eye. He nodded. Deidara nodded back.

He jumped out of his hiding spot, and grabbed on to a branch that was straight above where Shihiro was. He saw her eyes widen as she spotted him. Deimon's rock seemed to have vanished.

Deidara pushed off the branch, straight downwards. The wind whipped his hair back. Below him, Shihiro landed awkwardly on all fours, and pushed herself up as fast as she could, ready to meet Deidara. She was looking straight up at him, and Deidara could see a slight smile lingering around her lips. Her loose T-Shirt rippled in the breeze. She was not planning on moving, and she braced herself against the branch.

"_Release!"_

Below him, the branch that Shihiro was standing on splintered into tiny pieces. Deidara pushed the chakra out of the cracked bark, shattering the whole length of the branch, and catching Shihiro completely off-guard. She stumbled backwards, feet flailing around in the air, looking for something to stand on. Deidara saw her eyes widen in surprise, just before he slammed into her. He caught her in the stomach with his feet, and kicked her downwards. He saw her face contort with pain. Below him, he could see the ground quickly rising up to meet them.

Shihiro hit the ground with a muffled thump. Seconds later, Deidara had landed on top of her, and was pressing a kunai against her throat. Shihiro's eyes widened in surprise, and looked around frantically, a look of panic on her face. Deidara ripped her kunai pouch off her belt, and emptied it on to the forest floor. A couple of shuriken and kunais were all that fell out. The scroll was no where to be seen. Deidara felt a rage welling up inside him. _I can't fail this mission now…_

"Where's the scroll?" Deidara shouted, threatening her with the soft pressure of the kunai at her throat. Shihiro was shaking, and tears welled up in her eyes. She shook her head slowly.

"I-I don't- know…" she whispered, her voice quivering uncontrollably. Deidara gritted his teeth, before putting his hand around her throat, and slashing a deep gash across her left arm with the kunai. Blood instantly sprouted out of the wound, and Shihiro screamed, tears streaming down her face.

"Where is it?" Deidara shouted again, still in a rage. Shihiro merely shook her head slowly back and forth, sobbing.

"What's going on…?" she whispered, shaking. Deidara bit his lip slightly, and closed his eyes before opening them again. He raised the kunai again, poised for another slash. He could see the look of fear in her eyes.

"Deidara, what are you doing. _Stop! _" Deidara's head whipped around, and he saw Deimon running towards him with a panicked look.

"She's hidden the scroll," Deidara said loudly, still not getting up. The kunai was still poised for another slash. Deimon came to a stop beside the two of them, breathing heavily.

"Get off her Deidara," he said, looking down at Shihiro, whose arm still was bleeding freely. The forest floor around it was drenched in blood already.

"We have to make her talk," Deidara said shakily, biting his lip slightly, still not lowering the knife.

"I think she was being controlled, and that she doesn't remember anything now," Deimon said quickly, as if it was essential for him to understand this. Deidara gasped, and looked down at Shihiro, who was still crying, and holding her wounded arm with her other hand. Deidara pushed himself to his feet, and stumbled away from her. He sat down against a nearby tree, and just sat there, looking from Shihiro to Deimon.

"You're saying she doesn't remember anything she's done?" Deidara said in a scared sort of voice. Deimon nodded, looking down at Shihiro, who had stopped crying, and was just lying there, holding her arm. Deimon walked over to her, and grabbed her shoulders, helping her over to a tree that she could sit against.

"I didn't realize someone could be controlled like that Deidara whispered, his voice quivering. He raised his hand up in front of him, and saw that there were specks of blood across his hand. He dropped the kunai onto the ground, his hand now shaking violently. His breathing was shaky, and he felt slightly dizzy.

"What just happened?" Shihiro muttered, glancing up at Deimon, and then at Deidara. Deidara's breath caught in his throat when he caught the look of anger, and fear Shihiro gave him. He merely shook his head slowly back and forth, running a hand through his long hair absently.

"You… Well, I think you were being controlled by someone, or something…. You attacked us Shihiro," Deimon said, kneeling down beside her. Shihiro shook her head.

"I- wouldn't… But- I can't really remember…" She shook her head, and put her face in her hands.

"Don't worry, you're fine now," Deimon said soothingly. "I know what to do. Just calm down, this won't hurt." Shihiro looked up at him, and nodded. Deimon smiled bleakly, before putting both his hands around her arm. She flinched slightly as his hands closed around her injured arm, but she kept perfectly still, save a slight shivering. Deimon closed his eyes in concentration, and suddenly, a poisonous green glow formed around his hands. Deidara stared as the glow grew stronger. It was as if he was extracting the glow from Shihiro's arm. Shihiro flinched as the glow grew. When Deimon drew his hands away, the green glow stayed with them for a couple of seconds, before disappearing into the air. Deimon sighed, and clapped his hands together.

"You're fine now," he said, turning around, and walking away.

"I think you owe me and explanation of what you just did, I've never seen anything like it," Shihiro said shakily.

"I don't _owe_ you anything! You almost killed me," Deimon stated simply. Shihiro was caught by surprise, and went quiet instantly, looking down into her knees. Deimon looked over at her, and for a second, he looked almost sympathetic.

"Maybe we should just quit, since you two are wounded," Deimon said quietly, glancing from Shihiro to Deidara, who was looking into his knees, still shaking slightly. "Your wound is pretty bad, Shihiro," he added.

"I'll live," she said, sounding slightly confident again. She smiled, and leaned against the tree, craning her neck towards the sky, sighing.

"Where the hell did you put the scroll?" Deidara said quietly, looking up at Shihiro, who was surprised to see tears in Deidara's face.

"Don't you guys get it? We will fail if we don't make this delivery. How do we know that she's not lying?" He pushed himself to his feet, and glared over at Shihiro, who was gazing at him disbelievingly. "_How do we know she's not lying?"_

Shihiro looked down, and bit her lip. Then, slowly, she pushed herself to her feet, stumbling a bit, and leaning heavily against the tree. She swayed slightly on her feet, and turned to face Deidara, who was glaring at her accusingly.

"You can't prove that I'm not lying. You'll just have to take my word for it, and for that, you'll have to trust me. That's how a team works," she said quietly, glaring back at Deidara.

"Don't lecture me on how a team works, you just tried to kill me, for god's sake," Deidara retorted, looking angry again. "I can't fail this test, not because of you, or anyone else. I'm not apologizing for what I did to you. The fact is, you may still be a danger to this mission! Controlling someone like that would involve controlling chakra outside of the host itself, something apparently only I can do, according to your own father… There is no way to pro-"

"Oh, stop it you two," Deimon interrupted, glancing at the two of them angrily. "I know that Shihiro was being controlled. She couldn't help it!"

"How can you be so sure?" Deidara shouted, looking at him imploringly. "We can't afford to get caught off guard again."

Deimon did not answer. Instead, he closed his eyes, and formed a half seal with his left hand. Deidara watched him, astounded. Suddenly, Shihiro jumped up into the nearest tree, and vanished into the foliage.

"_Shihiro!"_ Deidara shouted after her, staring at where she had disappeared. He was about to jump after her, when he suddenly felt a heavy hand on his chest, holding him back. He spun around, and saw Deimon holding him back, smiling slightly. Fear hit Deidara like a punch. _Not Deimon as well… _He dug a hand into his kunai pouch, and tensed his arm, ready to strike. Deimon jumped back, avoiding Deidara's slash, surprise filling his face.

"Don't worry, she'll be back soon," he said quickly. Deidara just stood there, kunai still in his hand, in a battle stance, staring at him.

"You've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do," he said menacingly. Lowering the kunai, and striding foreword.

"I know," Deimon said with a lazy sight. Deidara nodded, and went to lean against a tree, all the while keeping his hand close to his kunai pouch.

_Can I really trust anybody?_

Just then, he heard a crunching noise above him, and seconds later, Shihiro appeared beside him on the ground. His eyes widened, as he saw that she had her scroll clutched in her hand. Suddenly, she shook her head slightly, as if coming out of some sort of sleep. She gasped, and glanced around fearfully.

"What just happened," she said nervously. "I just blacked again. I didn't attack any of you, did I?" Deidara merely shook his head.

"Let's just get going," Deimon said. "The delivery is that way," he said, pointing off to their right, before speeding off into the trees.

"But… The scroll." Shihiro said quickly, looking around. Deidara tapped the one she had in her hand, showing a hint of a smile. With that, he, to, sped into the foliage, leaving a behind a very confused Shihiro, who came racing after them both about five seconds later, shaking her head a bit.

The group continued in complete silence for a while. The trees sped by, but Deidara barely noticed them, since he was so lost in his own thoughts. This was a mental test, almost even more a physical test of skills. But then again, it is one of the most important parts of being a ninja, to be able to make logical decisions, even if you did not want to. He glanced back at Shihiro, and felt a small pang at the sight of her bloodstained arm, which was hanging down her side, as is she could not use it very well. Again, he took a deep breath, and shut down his emotions, since he could not allow them to get the better of him, especially now that they were so close to completing the mission

Suddenly, Deimon stopped on a branch straight ahead of Deidara. Deidara was caught by surprise, and skidded the length of the branch, before coming to a stop. He looked up, and saw that Deimon was almost keeling over, holding his hands to his head. His mouth was open, and he was breathing heavily. _Where's Shihiro? She was right behind me…_

"Hey, are you alright," Deidara shouted, running over to Deimon, and grabbing him by the shoulders. Deimon fell to his knees, and leaned foreword. Deidara felt helpless; he had no idea what to do. He glanced around the trees, looking for an attacker, or something out of the ordinary. Deimon was muttering something, but Deidara could not catch anything he said. Drops of sweat lined Deimon's forehead. It was as if he was having some sort of seizure. By now, Deidara was really beginning to panic, because he could do nothing about an enemy he could not see. All he could do was pat Deimon on the shoulder, trying to catch whatever he was saying.

"It's the final attack," Deimon whispered.

"What are you talking about?" Deidara said desperately, looking around wildly.

"I can't hold him back," Deimon whispered desperately. Suddenly, he heard a small noise behind him. At first he almost ignored it, thinking it to be wind in the trees. _But there is no wind right now…_

He spun around, and what he saw almost made his heart stop. Shihiro was speeding towards him, bearing a kunai in her arm, ready to strike. Deidara screamed, and jumped back, completely forgetting about Deimon. His eyes went wide as he saw everything, as if in slow motion.

Deimon spun around, but he was not near quick enough to parry Shihiro's attack, which was heading straight for Deimon's neck. Deidara cried out, but knew it was useless. Shihiro was less then a meter away, and all Deimon did, was whip his right arm around, as if cutting the air. The kunai would connect before Deimon's fist did. But then, Deidara noticed something odd. A black crow was speeding towards the two of them, straight for the quickly closing gap between them. Deidara also noticed that Deimon's hand was not clenched in a fist, but in a half seal.

Suddenly, right between Deimon and Shihiro, an explosion blossomed. Deidara saw it before he heard it, even though he was only meters away. His eyes widened in horror as both Shihiro and Deimon were encased in fire, before being blown backwards with a force that made even him stumble. The noise was deafening, and Deidara could feel the branch he was standing on vibrating violently, as if it was going to shatter. He stumbled backwards, and saw Deimon falling towards the ground. His neck was craned back, as if he had just been punched in the jaw. Without thinking, Deidara leaned foreword, and dived, trying to catch Deimon before he hit the ground.

At first, Deidara was sure that he had missed, and flown right over Deimon. But then he suddenly felt his right arm catch onto Deimon's waist. Deidara pulled him up with all his strength, not wanting to drop him. The ground rose up towards them faster then he liked. With no chance of making a decent landing, Deidara closed his eyes, preparing for the best landing he could pull off, which in theory involved him landing on one foot, and going into a roll.

In practice, it worked out somewhat worse. He was still holding on to Deimon, and when he landed on one foot, he overbalanced, and his leg gave way, leaving his way to the ground clear. He instinctively dropped Deimon the last couple of feet to the ground, and stretched out his arms to shield his fall. Deimon landed on his side with a dull thud, and rolled away, finally coming to a stop. Slightly shaken, Deidara pushed himself to his feet, and ran over to Deimon. He kneeled down by his side, and rolled him over.

"Are you ok?" he said loudly, shaking Deimon slightly. His eyes were closed, and for a despaired second, Deidara feared the worst. Tears welled up in his eye. This was just too much!

"_Are you all right?" _he shouted desperately, shaking Deimon, willing him to open his eyes. Blood stained Deimon's face in long streaks, and parts of his clothes were smouldered away. His T-shirt had tons of little burn holes in them, and below them were little marks where bits of ash had melted his skin. His face was slightly black, and looked sooty. Just then, he stirred, and opened his eyes, blinking confusedly.

"Ill live," he muttered quietly, making an attempt to smile, which failed miserably. Deidara nodded, relief flooding him.

"Shihiro…" Deimon muttered softly. "Get Shihiro…"

"You'll be alright?"

"What do you think, I'm not going anywhere," Deimon muttered impatiently. Deidara nodded shortly, feeling slightly embarrassed. _Stupid question, stupid question… _He got up, and ran through the forest to where he thought Shihiro should be. The ground crunched beneath his feet due to thousands of tiny splinters from the branch, which had completely shattered after the explosion. Deidara looked around, but could not see Shihiro. He was just beginning to think that she had been completely fine, and run away, when he suddenly heard a small noise to his right. He spun around, but saw only a fairly large part of the branch, that had not completely shattered. It had to be thicker then his waist. His eyes widened in horror. _Shihiro!_

He dashed over the branch, and looked desperately around it. Finally he found her. She was lying spread eagled on the ground, with her leg caught under the massive branch. Her red hair was lying out in a fan around her head, and her clothes were frayed, and torn. Deidara's eyes travelled down to her leg. He fought the urge to turn away when he saw her leg, which looked to be completely crushed below her knee. He could not really tell, but there was blood soaking the ground around it. Shaking slightly, he ran over to her. He bent down, and was relieved to find that she was still breathing. Deidara ran a hand through his long hair, as he did when he was panicking slightly. Shihiro did not look very good.

Deidara got up, and threw all his weight against the piece of tree that was pinning Shihiro's leg down. To his horror, it did not budge at all. He threw himself at it again, desperately pushing it, to no avail whatsoever. It still would not budge. Tears of frustration began to well up in Deidara's eyes, as he pushed it as hard as he could. Finally, he gave up, and sat down against the branch, shaking his head, tears streaking his face. _In the end, I couldn't do anything, even when faced with such a simple obstacle as a piece of wood,_ he thought bitterly. He slammed his fist into the wood, accomplishing absolutely nothing. He put his face in his hands, trying to calm down, and think rationally. It seemed a hard thing to do, with his friend dying right in front of him.

Deidara almost slapped himself. He could not believe how stupid he was acting, when it was so obvious. He shook his head, and jumped to his feet, turning to face the log again. He slammed his hands against it, and started pushing his own chakra into the little cracks and crevices in the log. To his horror, he started to feel faint seconds after he began pushing. His chakra reserves were severely drained. _At this rate, I'll never be able to break this…_ He grunted a little as he felt his world go slightly dizzy. But he couldn't give up now! _But at this rate…_

Suddenly, Deidara's legs could not seem to hold him any more. He stumbled back, and fell down on to his knees, struggling to maintain pressure between his hands and the log. He could still feel a trickle of chakra coming from his hands, draining him further. Finally, he could not handle it any more. He fell over backwards, blackness threatening to shut him in. He fought with all his might to keep his eye open. He had to. Deidara blinked a couple of times, trying to not faint. He knew that his chakra was basically gone, and that complete depletion could kill him. His whole body felt heavy. _But if I faint here, we all fail…_

Slowly, ever so slowly, Deidara managed to push himself into a sitting position against a tree. His head felt heavy, and began spinning when he lifted it. His vision was blurred, but beside him, he could make out Shihiro lying motionlessly on the ground, her chest rising and falling slowly. He gave himself a little shake, attempting to clear himself. He tried to feel the chakra in the log, but at first he felt nothing. A pang of fear hit him. _What if the chakra just dispersed…?_

Searching through himself for the chakra was like looking for a diamond in a bucket of gravel, blindfolded. At times he could almost feel it, ever eluding his clouded grasp. He did not know how long he sat there. Might be five, might be twenty minutes. After a while, he felt his head clear up slightly, as if he was slowly coming out of a trance of some sort. He closed his eyes, and reached out. Finally, he felt the chakra, just lying there. He gritted his teeth together, and closed his eyes, concentrating on positioning the chakra along the weak grain of the log.

"Release," he whispered, pushing the chakra as hard as he could through the cracks, and away from itself. He felt it rip through the brittle wood. Inside the log itself, there was a grinding sound, like bones being ground up. He felt the chakra reach the end of the road, and escape into the open air, where it was impossible to keep hold of it. Deidara finally let go, and opened his eyes, sweating.

The log pinning Shihiro down was still there, its wholeness mocking him. Deidara's eyes widened, and he felt a tear in his eye…

_No…_ He pushed himself to his feet, and felt himself sway slightly.

"NO!" he screamed, running at the log, and kicking it as hard as he possible could. His shout reverberated through the trees.

Under his foot, the log shattered. It fell apart into tiny pieces of splintered wood, as if it had been eaten away internally by termites. The bottom part was all that remained, and Deidara grabbed it, and threw it away with all his might, breathing heavily. Not looking at Shihiro's bloody leg, he kneeled down by her side, and picked her up into his arms. She felt warm, and surprisingly light. Deidara stood there for a second, regaining his messed up balance, before he set off through the trees to where Deimon was, hoping that he was still alright.

He found Deimon right in the clearing where he had left him. He had pushed himself into a sitting position, and was sitting cross-legged over by a tree. In front of him, a pair of rocks were flying around in a circle, in a sort of dance. Suddenly, they both fell to the ground. He smiled when he saw Deidara.

"Took your time, didn't you?" he said, smiling slightly, before continuing, "Bring her over here, I need to treat her." Deidara complied, although he was not quite sure what Deimon meant. He walked over to where he was sitting, and lay Shihiro's limp body beside him, before stepping back. Deimon, frowning slightly, held his hand to Shihiro's chest, and brushed her red hair back with his other hand. He closed his eyes, and again, Deimon watched as Deimon's hand began to glow a poisonous green colour. It seemed to be flowing, and after a while, the glow around his hand grew stronger. Deimon flinched slightly.

"There, I'm done," he announced, removing his hand, which instantly extinguished. "She'll be fine this time, I promise," he added, seeing Deidara staring at him questioningly.

"You really have some explaining to do," Deidara said. Deimon ignored him, but pushed himself to his feet, and looked around.

"We'd better get going, we should be close," he said, pointing into the forest, where Deidara knew the drop-point was. Deidara nodded shortly; the sky was already starting to have a slight reddish glow to it, and the shadows were growing longer in the forest, as the day came to a close. Deidara guessed it was about three. He also realized how hungry he was, not having eaten since breakfast. Deimon sped off into the forest, although travelling considerable slower then before. Deidara glanced around quickly, before picking up Shihiro in his arms, and running after him.

As they ran through the woods, Deidara noticed that he was starting to feel quite fatigued. His legs were burning slightly, and he still felt slightly light headed. Just as long as they did not meet any new obstacles, he would be fine. They were close now, Deidara could tell. The map had marked the delivery point as a large clearing in the middle of the forest. To him, the trees around him seemed to be thinning out, not reaching as far into the air. The air smelled different, as weIll, more like it had just rained, then the old, dry forest they had just been in. The trees were dispersing on all sides now.

Suddenly, without warning, the forest simply seemed to vanish on all sides, and Deidara burst out into the clearing. He skidded to a halt by Deimon, breathing hard, and squinting in the bright sunlight.

The whole clearing was covered in grass, without a single tree on it. It was shaped almost as a perfect circle, and all around him, the smooth grass seemed to be dancing in the wind. The clearing started so suddenly from the forest that it looked as though it had been created by humans. It was like a small oasis, in the middle of the forest. Deidara carefully laid Shihiro down on the flowing grass. In the sunlight, her face looked even worse, grubby, and bloodstained, though pale underneath. Without thinking, he casually brushed a stray strand of red hair out of her face, before getting back up, and looking around.

"Interesting," he heard Deimon mutter beside him.

"Hello," a voice behind them said. Deidara jumped, and spun around, holding up a kunai defensively. Behind them stood Satou, his sunken eyes surveying them playfully, his short hair flowing lazily in the wind. "Good work on surviving so far," he said lazily, smiling. Deidara's hands clenched into fists by his sides. He raised his eyes to meet Satou's, rage lining his face.

"It was you, wasn't it? You were the one controlling Shihiro," he whispered maliciously, not lowering his kunai.

"No, Deidara, I don't think-" Deimon began, before Deidara cut him off.

"You _bastard,_" he shouted, suddenly dashing towards Satou, his kunai ready to strike, his weariness forgotten. He saw the look of surprise on Satou's face, mixed with amusement. Deidara's kunai was a mere foot away from him.

Suddenly, something caught Deidara by the neck. He fell back, and coughed, trying to get his breath back. He could feel something holding him back in a tight grip, and he glimpsed a kunai pressed against his neck. He struggled, to no avail.

"Deidara, calm down," Deimon said shakily, holding Deidara tightly in his grip. Deidara stopped struggling, and relaxed slightly, not dropping his kunai.

"This bastard almost killed us all," Deidara whispered angrily.

"No, he didn't," Deimon said firmly. He looked up at Satou, who was standing there lazily, looking amused. "There's no way it could have been _him!"_ Deidara felt Deimon's grip on him loosen. He shook free, and looked around at him.

"What are you talking about?" Deidara asked slowly. Deimon did not answer. He grimaced, looking up at Satou.

Suddenly, to Deidara's amazement, Deimon pulled a shuriken out of his pouch, and threw it towards Satou. Satou dodged it by diving right, but Deimon was already there. Deidara watched in amazement as he saw Deimon attack Satou, only to have his blow easily parried. For a while, they just stood there, exchanging punches. Satou was so distracted that he did not notice the rock that came shooting towards him.

The rock hit Satou in the head with a sickening _crack_! Deidara watched in horror as he watched Satou keel over backwards, the back of his head bleeding. He ran foreword to where Deimon was, eyes wide.

"What the hell are you doing?" Deidara shouted desperately. Deimon ignored him, instead looking around the clearing intently. Deidara's eyes widened in surprise. In a burst of rage, he grabbed Deimon by the front, and spun him around, lifting him nearly off the ground.

"Answer me!" he shouted desperately. Suddenly, something connected with the side of Deidara's head. His world went faint, and he stumbled sideways, loosing his grip on Deimon, he looked up, and glimpsed Deimon standing there, his fist outstretched.

"He was being controlled, wasn't he," he said loudly, gazing intently around the clearing. _Who the hell is he talking to?_

"Hehehe… I expected you to pick up on that before now," said a cold voice behind them. Deidara spun around so quickly that it made his head spin. Behind him was… At first Deidara thought he was looking at a tree covered in black fabric, but then he realized that it was a man, standing on his head. His outfit could not have been different from what Satou had been wearing: A long, flowing black robe, with patches and patterns of poisonous green sewed in. He kicked his legs upwards, and launched himself a couple of meters into the air, doing a pair of front flips before he landed. He stood there, staring at the three of them, smiling slightly.

The mans face was thin, and pale, sort of like Deimon's. His hair reached about to his shoulders, and was jet black. Deidara thought his head looked like a mop, and a very evil mop at that. The rest of his outfit looked weird with his thin face, and long, straight hair. It was as if his head was to small for his body.

"I did pick up on it before, but I made the mistake of trying to resist you," Deimon said spitefully. The man laughed, a cold laugh, which sounded unnatural, somehow.

"That was _you _resisting me there? I thought that was the host. You're weak, Deimon" he chuckled. Deidara saw Deimon's hands clench into fists, as he looked at the ground. Deidara stared at him with wide eyes. _What the hell….?_

"Well, you have both of the scrolls, so you all pass, obviously," the man said slowly, a smile that gave Deidara the shivers hanging around his lips.

"I'm your real sensei, by the way," he added, looking over at Deidara, who nodded quickly. The man smiled again.

"You know that you're the first team I've had for fifteen years, and the first for twenty two years where the whole team has survived," he said, smiling. Deidara shivered a bit, not wanting to think about death. The man smiled again.

"Yes, I did know that," Deimon said coldly. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, the Tsuchikage pulled me out of retirement specifically for this team," he said, grinning. "I can see why."

Deidara looked back and fort between Deimon and the man, confused. _Who the hell… _

"Hey Deidara," Deimon said coldly. "Meet my father!"'

- -- - -----

In the house of the Tsuchikage, dinner was made for two that night. Haruko, and the Tsuchikage both sat there in silence, not eating much.

"Shouldn't they be back by now," Haruko asked, looking slightly worried. The Tsuchikage shook his head a little.

"No, with him, it usually takes about this long." Haruko nodded, and turned back to her food, which she wasn't really eating.

"But… none of them will _die,_ right?"

The Tsuchikage looked up at his wife, a dangerous glint in his eye.

"I've told you already, I have faith in Shihiro. I'm sure she will be on the one of ten teams that survives his test."

Haruko nodded again, smiling bleakly.

"Any idea why he wanted to take this team?"

"No, but god knows I couldn't say no to him. I mean, he's saved the village from ruin more times then I have, probably," the Tsuchikage said darkly. Haruko was about to say something, when there was a sudden knock on the door. The Tsuchikage frowned, and went to answer it. When he came back, he looked slightly pale, and worried.

"They passed, but… Shihiro's in the hospital," he said quickly. Both of them did not waste any time leaving. Both dinners were left on the table, pretty much untouched.

- -

Deidara did not go home right away that evening. Instead, he chose to stay at the hospital, where Shihiro had been committed. The medics had not found anything critically wrong with her, save a crushed leg, a powerful concussion, and numerous small injuries, some deeper then others. She had been washed and treated, so now she was just lying peacefully in bed, her long white shirt covering most of her bandages, and a cast covering her leg. She had not woken up yet, but the doctors had told him that she probably would tomorrow. _Probably…_

Deimon stayed at the hospitol just long enough for a quick checkup, before insisting on leaving.

"Hey, Deimon. Are you going to explain what the hell happened back there?" Deidara asked him.

"No, no planning on it," Deimon said, without turning around, leaving Deidara temerarly speechless.

"Jerk," Deidara muttered, gazing after him.

Deidara sighed, as he looked at Shihiro's sleeping face. She looked troubled, as though she was having a bad dream. Deidara leaned back, and closed his eyes, recalling the last thing that their new sensei had said to him.

"_Heh... The desert test? That test's a push-over… Nobody ever died doing the desert test!" _And then he had winked at him.

Deidara shivered slightly, and suddenly, all the images of the day came crashing down on him. He looked over at Shihiro, and saw that there was a big bandage on her arm. _Where I… _

Tears began trickling slowly down his face. He wiped them of, but soon enough, they were replaced. For a while, he just sat there, before finally getting up, and leaving.

When he got home, Deidara went straight to his room, and collapsed on the bed, not even bothering to get undressed. He fell asleep in less then a minute, completely exhausted in every way.

--------------------------------- --

_**Expect an update in a couple of weeks, probably. I'm also working on some original fiction, but Ill try to keep a pace of about .5-1k a day. This chapter is 11k words, you do the math. :P**_

_**Until next time. -Eureka- **_

_-(Btw, this work is pretty much all mine, apart from Deidara himself, whose adult version is the work of a cool dude called Masashi Kishimoto. Allthough I would say the young version is differant enough to be called my work... Oh well... I guess Ill credit Kishimoto with general concepts, and inspiration. :P)-_


End file.
